The municipality of East Ferris presented details about their active transportation plan at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference on January 24.
Mayor Pauline Rochefort and East Ferris’ chief administrative officer Jason Trottier were joined by Kinga Surma, the Minister of Infrastructure and Victor Fedeli via a live-streamed conference. The conference was held on-line this year due to Covid-19.
The conference provided “an opportunity to outline the needs of our community,” Mayor Rochefort said, and “we spoke on behalf of active transportation” not only for East Ferris, but “for the whole province.”
This past October, the municipality released their active transportation plan, which outlined strategies to encourage more—and safer—ways to walk, jog, and cycle through the community. Active transportation was not a key topic at this year’s conference, and Rochefort felt it was important to raise the issue.
See: East Ferris keeps active with new transportation plan
“I always find it’s very important” to use the conference as a forum “to speak about what is required in our community.”
Mayor Rochefort provided a snapshot of East Ferris to Minister Surma as well, mentioning that East Ferris’ population is set to reach just over 5,000 this winter, and how last year saw “record construction” in the area. School enrollment is also on the rise over the past decade.
She also raised the issue of improving internet connections within the municipality, spoke of the importance of helping seniors age at home, and offered an update on the new medical centre set to open this March.
See: East Ferris breaks ground on new medical centre
“We wanted to talk about what is important to our citizens,” Rochefort said, and “what might be the number one concern” for residents “was the need for safe and convenient infrastructure for walking and cycling.”
“That was a big issue,” she noted. “Basically, we don’t have infrastructure” that allows for safe cycling or walking. “Our roads date back to settlement, and most don’t have shoulders,” she said, except for Corbeil Road and Highway 94, “and people complain about issues of safety.”
Her purpose was to express these issues to Queen’s Park. “We expressed a need” in hopes that funding will be available in the near future, Rochefort said.
“It was to lay the groundwork in preparation,” Mayor Rochefort said of the presentation, “we wanted to share with them what our citizens are saying is important to them.”
“I find we have a very responsive government who are very informed of the issues,” Rochefort added, and “overall, I think people are taking good note of East Ferris, and that’s all very positive.”
Nice to join @EastFerris Mayor Pauline Rochefort today to advocate on local transportation and infrastructure projects at #ROMA2022.
— Victor Fedeli (@VictorFedeli) January 24, 2022
Thank you Minister @KingaSurmaMPP for the meeting and for the opportunity to share East Ferris’ Active Transportation Plan. pic.twitter.com/H34zqg7wyP
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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