Friends of Crowe Bridge Park president Shirley Patterson and Trent Hills Mayor Hector Macmillan are ecstatic the conservation area will re-open to the public in late May. Mark Hoult Community Press

Trent Hills – Three years ago Mayor Hector Macmillan placed a twoonie on the table before members of the Crowe Valley Conservation Authority Board during a public meeting in Marmora and said he would relieve them of the burden of operating the Crowe Bridge Park conservation area.

Last week Macmillan placed a twoonie in the hands of Crowe Valley board chair Suzanne Partridge to seal a lease agreement that gives Trent Hills the responsibility for opening and operating the park for one year.

“This is a really welcome opportunity; it’s going to be something good for everyone,” said Partridge of the agreement and work plan that will open the gates of the park to the public more than three years after they were closed by the CVCA.

At the time, general manager Tim Pidduck said the CVCA had lost $120,000 over 10 years keeping the park open. The conservation area had become impossible to operate because there was no funding available for programs beyond the conservation authority’s core mandate of flood control, he said. Last year the conservation authority decided it wanted to wash its hands of Crowe Bridge Park and transfer responsibility for the property to the Municipality of Trent Hills. To that end the CVCA board passed a resolution to approach Trent Hills about taking over the 26-acre property north of Campbellford.

News that the conservation area had been declared surplus and could be going on the sale block galvanized some area residents, who organized a campaign to keep the land in public hands and to reopen its gates. Last week supporters of the Crowe Bridge Park saw their goal of opening the park realized as the conservation authority board agreed in principle to the two-dollar lease agreement, subject to a review by the authority’s solicitor and its general manager Tim Pidduck.

Trent Hills council has already approved a work plan for the park and budgeted $5,000 for “barebones” improvements that will be sufficient to open the park for the day use of area residents and visitors. The municipality will provide garbage collection, accessible toilets, tree maintenance, parking, limited grass cutting, signs and general park maintenance and inspection.

The municipality will also allow public swimming in the park.

Macmillan said the municipality sees itself as a partner with the conservation authority, not as a tenant of the Crowe Bridge Park.

“We are here to help you do what you are mandated to do,” he told the CVCA board, stressing that Trent Hills council is aware of the financial challenges the conservation authority is facing.

“We’re here to help you with that; we’re doing more than just acquiring land.”

During a brief walk through the park last week Macmillan said he is “just ecstatic” about the agreement with the CVCA and is looking forward to working with the Friends of the Crowe Bridge Park to hold a grand re-opening on the May 24th weekend.

“I feel like we’ve just won the lottery,” he said, noting that he has been keeping the twoonie “shined up” in preparation for the day the municipality would take over operation of the property.

“I’ve just been waiting for that opportunity, and I figured it would come around again. It was the only solution then, and it is the only solution today. And it is to the board’s credit that they stepped back and fully investigated all their options as to what they could do with the property.”

Macmillan said in the end the CVCA board came to the conclusion that an agreement with Trent Hills to operate the park is the best solution for both the conservation authority and the public. “And it’s in keeping with the spirit of conservation lands,” he added. “It’s the right thing to do, and it’s full steam ahead now.”

Friends of Crowe Bridge Park president Shirley Patterson said the group is dedicated to helping make the reopening of the property a reality.

“We will have people in place to make it happen,” she said. “At last, we will have an open park this summer. And that has been the dream of a good many of us.”

Patterson, who took her children swimming in the park while they were growing up, brought the good news to the Friends during their annual general meeting April 18 at the Campbellford Legion.

“It’s been three years of hard work, dedication and frustration,” she said of the group’s efforts to find ways of keeping the park open and in public hands. “But it’s exciting to know we can now move on.”

Trent Hills community services officer Scott Rose told the meeting that municipal staff are excited about starting work on the park. But he stressed staff will need help if they are to concentrate on preparing the park for daily use by the public.

“We have to work on the parking area, clear out some dangerous trees, grade roads, prepare public toilets, cut grass and get the gates open,” he said. “A lot of the jobs can be done by staff only, but the municipality won’t be able to do all the work, and at times we’ll have to rely on you a lot at this stage if we want to get the gates open.”

Macmillan said volunteers could also help the municipality open up the Crowe Bridge Park trails. And once the trails are open, the picnic tables repaired and the park is cleaned up, “the word will spread like wildfire” and people will flow through its gates once again, he said.

Macmillan said there are no plans at this point to allow camping at Crowe Bridge Park. However, the municipality will encourage campers at Ferris Park, which is now being operated by the province, to visit and to go swimming at the Crowe, he said.