By Chad Ingram

Published May 3 2016

Haliburton County councillors have made a change to the official spring opening of the Haliburton County Rail Trail to ATVs although in practice there will be little difference.

For a number of years the official start on the Rail Trail for ATVs has been June 1. However that date has come with a caveat that the Haliburton ATV Association can make an anuual request for an early start on May 1 conditions permitting.

Most years a May 1 start date has been granted.

At an April 27 meeting of county council Minden Hills Reeve Brent Devolin suggested the start date be changed to May 1 with the caveat of a delay due to conditions at counci’s discretion.

“It would be overturning a previous decision of council” Algonquin Highlands Reeve and County Warden Carol Moffat said.

However most councillors were fine with the idea Highlands East Deputy-reeve Suzanne Partridge saying that HATVA needed to do advertising for its events and that it was inconvenient for members of the association to have to make the annual request.

Dysart et al Reeve Murray Fearrey noting the lack of snow this winter had affected many businesses said the county needed to get as many people into its borders as soon as possible.

Council approved new policy guidelines for signage along the Rail Trail. The guidelines restrict sigange to regulatory interpretive and informational signs banning commercial signage.

Council also voted to proceed with the reconstruction of the Howland Junction trestle bridge a project for which the county was unsuccessful at obtaining a funding grant.

The $250000 project will be funded half from this year’s budget and half through the bridge reserve which is sitting at approximatley $670000.

Load restrictions are in place on the bridge in the meantime.