CBS preparing to change Municipal Plan to make way for ATV trail

By Craig Westcott / June 23, 2023

The Town of CBS will hold public consultations as it kicks off its effort to amend its Municipal Plan and development regulations to accommodate an ATV trail in the west end of CBS.

The changes will see “transportation uses” added to the permitted activities on lands zoned Open Space Conservation, Rural and Regional Centre. The proposed trail will run from the staging area on Seal Cove Pond to a point on Legion Road, Kelligrews.

“Councillor Paul Connors and his committee have been doing a lot of work towards this new ATV trail,” said Councillor-at-Large Rex Hillier, who introduced the motion last week to change the regulations. “Part of the path it passes through are zoned Open Space Conservation, Rural and Regional Centre. And in the regulations for those, we don’t have regulations for transportation associated activities. So really all we’re saying is we’re going to work our way through a process whereby we will have to add that to our regulations.”

Connors said many ATV users in CBS will be happy to hear of this latest move.

“I think it’s going to be well received,” he said. “Some people might say it’s a long time coming. As we know, the Crown Land application (to accommodate parts of the trail) was made back last year in 2022 and as Councillor Hillier just mentioned, it’s working its way through the system. Unfortunately, some of the land is in Open Space Conservation, Rural, and Regional Centre, so we need to get that rezoned so we can get the trail going through. But feedback has been positive with the Crown Land application, and this is another step in our commitment to develop an ATV trail for the residents of CBS that they’ve been asking for for so long.”

Connors reckoned the zoning changes will take four to five months to complete. 

“I think this is really positive, to be able to bring forward this recommendation here tonight, and I thank council for doing it,” Connors said.

“It’s one of those things that takes a lot of time and a lot of preparation,” added Mayor Darrin Bent. “I ask the users to be patient. And I know that the group that you work with understands what has to go into these sorts of things. But we’ll get to the finish line on this one, and I want to thank you for the work that you and the committee have been doing.”

Bent noted the Town is working on other ATV-related initiatives that council can’t comment on just yet. “But it’s all positive stuff and I just want people to know that this council understands some of the concerns that we are hearing regarding ATVs and we are working towards becoming more ATV friendly and giving ATV users options like this one,” he said. “And hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later, but it does take time and there are processes, other agencies and even in this case another municipality (Holyrood) involved. So, we’ll have to work though all those processes as well.”

Councillor-at-Large Joshua Barrett said there is a clear need for such a trail. “So, I say get the bikes out of Chamberlains Park and put them on the trail and we’ll all be happy,” he said.