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Confusion reigns over provincial cycling grant
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
him to submit a project proposal. “People in Prescott-Russell don’t gene- rally take their bikes to get to work,” said Clermont. He added that he is puzzled about why ministry staff asked him to send a pro- ject proposal without first dealing with his funding request to help with drafting a plan. Clermont sent theMoT a five-year outline of plans for paving the shoulders of UCPR roads for the benefit of cyclists. Estimated cost is about $3 million. The MoT replied over the Christmas break. “We got an offer of $419,725 in grant money,” said Clermont, adding he now has a 50-page agreement for the grant covering the 2017-2018 fiscal year. “I need to get the plan done first,” he said. “But they gave me a list of (four) projects.” Clermont noted the 50-page agreement document seems to allocate part of the grant approval for drafting the plan and doing one of the four shoulder-paving projects during 2018. Work on the other three shoul- der-paving projects would spread over 2019 and 2020. But the cost to do the plan and the one shoulder-paving project for 2018 would amount to about $100,000. To do the plan and all four shoulder-paving projects would cost about $1 million. Clermont will wait until he can clarify the purpose for the grant. “I just want tomake sure,” he said. “We’re not going to turn down themoney, but I just want to make sure that we can meet their obligations. Right now it’s not very clear.”
Marc Clermont, director of public works for the United Counties of Prescott-Rus- sell (UCPR), has got some money to help support commuter cycling in Ontario but he’s not sure what he’s allowed to dowith it. “There are lots of grants out there for cycling programs,” Clermont said during a phone interview. “They (province) are really into promoting cycling.” One of latest funding programs from the Ministry of Transport (MoT) is the Ontario Municipal Commuters Cycling Programs (OMCCP). Clermont mentioned the pro- gram during a brief update on his depart- ment’s activities during the January 12 UCPR committee of the whole session. Since then, he’s been trying to figure how the grant program is supposed to work and what kind of UCPR projects might qualify. “I have a list of (possible) projects,” he said, adding that he submitted a proposal when the OMCCP was announced last autumn. “The guidelines were quite specific,” he said. “You have to have a (commuter cycling) plan. They need a master plan that shows which roads are commuter roads and would be suitable for cyclists.” Clermont estimated $80,000 for the cost to develop such a plan so he put in a request for $60,000 in OMCCP support funding with the UCPR covering the rest. A fewweeks later he got a phone call from theministry asking
Le vélo de banlieue est populaire dans les grandes villes comme Ottawa et même, dans une moindre mesure, dans certaines petites communautés rurales. Le gouvernement provincial amis en place un programme de financement pour soutenir et promouvoir davantage le cyclotourisme en Ontario, et les Comtés unis de Prescott et Russell pourraient avoir des projets qui méritent d’être financés. —photo d’archives
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