By Jaymie White
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
PORT AUX BASQUES – The most recent town council meeting took place on Wednesday evening, July 13. Matters discussed included the recent meeting with Minister Gudie Hutchings, Regional Trail Network, and a letter received from a resident on Kyle Lane regarding campers on Grand Bay West Beach.
Meeting with Gudie Hutchings
Mayor Brian Button said a meeting, which had been discussed as something the council was working toward during previous council sessions, was recently held.
“We had a good meeting. We discussed quite a few items that we had talked about of interest to the community and I think, through it all, we had a pretty productive meeting. Hopefully with a few things we’ve talked about we will get a response back and see where we go from there.”
Regional Trail Network
Town Manager Leon MacIsaac received approval from Infrastructure Canada for a project for the Regional Trail Network. An amount of $31,567 has been awarded. Mayor Button said this is a project that has been in the works for quite some time and he’s happy to see it moving forward.
“Seems like the trail system is something now that has caught on really good and now we are going to see some investment go into it.”
MacIsaac said the grant money is for the consulting services and the overview to see how the trail network will all fit together. Button concurred, and said this is definitely a step in the right direction and will entice more people to the area.
Kyle Lane campers
A letter from a resident of Kyle Lane asked that signage be posted to advise campers that the Grand Bay West beach parking area is for day use only. The resident expressed frustration with campers using the parking lot to camp overnight.
In order to avoid any conflict, Mayor Button left the room and turned things over to Councillor Jim Lane to chair the discussion.
Lane said there were some facetious things mentioned in the letter that needed to be addressed and clarified, such as the fact that there was no signage placed by the Town, and noted that it was residents who put up previous signage for ‘no overnight parking.’
Lane said there was a public meeting at Town Hall where the thought of putting up a ‘no overnight parking’ sign was discussed by the Town and that they asked Kyle Lane residents to be patient.
“We’ve got a copy of the meeting that we did have, the public meeting, and we need to refer back to what we actually said. As a council, we’ve been very diligent and very good at corresponding with the person who is going to build the new RV park, which is really moving along really well. In my view, yeah, we are going to put it up there, but when the other park is complete so that we can refer people to a place to park.”
MacIsaac said campers frequent many areas, not just the beach.
“The beach is not the only area in town that sees a lot of campers and I’d be hesitant placing signage in an area where there’s disgruntled residents taking it upon themselves to become their own police, which we will not tolerate.”
Councillor Lane said before they do anything or send a response, he believes it is necessary to go back through their meeting minutes to ensure all the accurate information is presented when responding to the resident’s concerns.
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