A member of the Active Trails Whitehorse Association criticized the city at council’s meeting Monday for not communicating with the public properly.

Keith Lay was focused on a new trail developed behind Riverdale without the public being consulted.

The Pee Wee Hill trail connects with the Lower Riverdale Trail, and from the top of Pee Wee Hill, the Hidden Lakes can be seen.

Lay provided council with a three-page summary of his concerns, a portion of which he read out at Monday’s meeting.

The city Trail Plan developed in 2020 gave hope the city would honour its commitment made in 2017 to improve the Pee Wee Hill trail, Lay said.

“There was no clear statement that ‘trail improvements’ might involve new trail construction in the Pee Wee Hill area, an action that in 2017, the City said would be unsustainable,” he told council.

“However, in September of 2021, the city did a complete about-face and built a new ‘switchback trail’ adjacent to the Pee Wee Hill trail with the help of the Contagious Mountain Bike Club, without consulting those who were aware of the 2017 commitment,” Lay said.

“The City simply ignored its previous commitment, demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of what constitutes proper process.”

He said park management will argue the Trail Development Policy allows it to build new trails without notification if they are l,500 metres or fewer in length.

The city is surely aware the Chadburn Lake Park Management Plan says that in areas of intensive recreation, new trails may only be considered where a substantial need can be demonstrated and impact on other users’ safety and enjoyment can be minimized, he said.

Lay told council the city built the new switchback trail in an area of intensive recreation without first providing the public with the required information that would demonstrate adherence to the Chadburn Lake Park Management Plan.

That amounts to a breach of proper process and makes one question why such plans are developed only to see them ignored when it is convenient to do so, he said.

Lay said the new switchback trail certainly qualifies as an initiative that should have been communicated to the public.

Apparently, since there were no set timelines for the construction of the new trail, it was not communicated to the public, he said.

Lay noted the 2020 Trail Plan mentions the need to improve communication of new trails to the public and user groups.

Instead of doing the maintenance on the Pee Wee Hill trail as committed to in 2017, he said, the city built the new trail.

Lay noted the East of the Yukon River Trail Plan provides no indication of the alternate trail adjacent to the Pee Wee Hill Trail so one has to wonder how construction of the switchback trail is in keeping with the plan.

The city’s sustainability plan, said Lay, says citizens should be involved in decisions that affect them and act as stewarts of the environment.

“These are impressive words, but they are just words if the city does not follow through on its commitments,” he pointed out.

“In our view, proper process was not followed when the city built the alternate Pee Wee Hill Trail. The public was not given the required and appropriate consultation it deserved.”

Lay said he would like to see city council direct administration to prepare an amendment to the Trail Development Policy to ensure the public is informed about new proposed trail development of any length, and is given the opportunity to comment.

“... We encourage city council to ensure that administration does this sooner rather than later,” Lay said.