The City of Pembroke will not pursue negotiations with CN to purchase a section of trail that runs through the city. The CN trail connects the Algonquin Trail on both sides of the city of Pembroke and is currently leased by the ATV and snowmobile clubs. Following a discussion at council on Tuesday night, councillors voted 4-3 in favour of not sending an expression of interest for the $25,000 piece of land. While there were members on both sides of the fence, the main issue was that CN was not willing to sign off on environmental liability from the trail. City councillor, Pat Lafreniere, says motorized vehicles will be travelling down that section of land, and it’s not going to be used for residential or commercial development.
Council has been debating on whether they should allow motorized and non-motorized traffic on the CP trail for several months now. The online survey conducted by the Township of Laurentian Valley and City of Pembroke showed slightly more people in favour of allowing motorized vehicles on this section of trail. Lafreniere says if they don’t purchase the $25,000 piece of land and someone else buys it, they will have no choice but to allow motorized traffic along the CP trail, or the business community would feel the impact. A decision on whether or not motorized traffic will be allowed on the CP trail in Pembroke will be made in September.