KAGAWONG—While initiatives taken by the Township of Billings with the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the Manitoulin detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police have helped to alleviate some of the problems with local and visitor traffic parking creating a bottleneck on Highway 540 in Kagawong near the Bridal Veil Falls, more work needs to be done, a township councillor said at a special council meeting held last week. Bryan Barker also asked council to reconsider putting $29,000 towards paving the newly created parking lot (beside Dig and Doug’s Cedar Furniture store).
It was explained by township clerk Kathy McDonald that the township had budgeted $29,000 using 2018 money for the 2019 work.
“I would like to recommend we postpone paving the parking. It is not working,” stated Councillor Bryan Barker. “People are still not using the parking lot. Instead I would like us to revisit the issue with the OPP and the MTO on solutions to resolve the parking issue.”
Councillor Barker suggested, “perhaps we could promote and market people parking their vehicles at the Park Centre and open the trail (adjacent to the Park Centre) and rebrand it to have signs, ‘Welcome to Bridal Veil Falls hiking trail’ and encourage people to walk on the trail up to the falls.” He acknowledged no parking signs have been posted at the bridge by Bridal Veil Falls (on the highway) and cones have been set up on the road by the bridge to dissuade people from parking there. As well, the OPP have patrolled the area and last summer-fall ticketed some person illegally parking. All of this has helped but more need to be done, he said. “And currently, when you come into the village (on Highway 540 from the M’Chigeeng side) and come down the little hill in the summer, all you see is pylons, cones and no stopping signs. It is not very welcoming.”
“By opening the trail from the Park Centre to the falls, people parking here would also be exposed to businesses down town,” said Councillor Barker. “I’m not saying this is the solution, but I think needs to be considered.”
He also suggested that since the small parking lot close to Bridal Veil Falls also presents a traffic-parking problem, possibly it could be limited to those who have accessibility needs to park there, and that possibly the stairs below the viewing platform could be considered for removal.
Mayor Anderson acknowledged, “I agree the new parking lot is not getting good use. The most vehicles I saw using it at any time in the summer was 15-20, and paving the parking lot will not make it more attractive for people to park there.”
Clerk Kathy McDonald felt that larger signage at the parking lot would help. “I think this would probably go a long way to having more people use it.” She noted that another meeting is being set up with the OPP and the MTO to look at further solutions for the parking issue, and that while improvements have been made, more needs to be done to have the issue resolved.
Mayor Anderson agreed with the idea of promoting the use of the Park Centre for parking, and encouraging people to use the trail near that parking lot to hike up to the Falls, instead of having people park in the highway; noting that the potential for a serious accident at the latter is always a concern.
Councillor Barker said the initiatives to try to keep people from parking on the highway near the falls has led to more people parking closer to the area near the turnoff in Kagawong to Gore Bay. There are no stop signs in place for drivers turning left in this area, and he told council of a trip he made in his vehicle last summer in which three-quarters around the turn he came upon a family of four people walking on the highway toward their car. Luckily, he had stopped and they were able to get to their without any accident. The potential for a serious accident is still prevalent, he said.
“My feeling is that the new parking lot is not working,” Councillor Barker told the Recorder after the meeting. “So why would we spend $29,000 to pave it. I think we should revisit the issue and resolve it with the input of the MTO and the OPP. And one of the solutions I thought was to promote using the parking at the Park Centre; and in turn expand the hiking trail opening near the park Centre to the Bridal Veil Falls.”
“The bottom line is public safety,” said Mayor Anderson. “We have an estimated 25,000-30,000 people who visit Bridal Veil Falls every year. We don’t want to discourage people from visiting. But we need to resolve the issue with parking, and allow people to enjoy the falls as well.”
“The bottom line is that I would like to have this whole issue resolved before someone gets seriously hurt,” stated Councillor Barker. “And we don’t want to deter people coming to visit Kagawong and Bridal Veil Falls. It is our crown jewel. But we need to discuss the issues further and come up with a solution that everyone is satisfied with.”
