City council has approved a plan for a $2.6 million trail system inside Windsor's South Cameron woodlot.
During Monday's meeting, council approved the multi-phase plan, but because no funding has been set aside for the work, capital funding would need to be considered as part of the 2025 10-year capital plan.
James Chacko, Windsor's executive director of parks and facilities, says they are aware the South Cameron woodlot has a provincially significant wetland and several areas with different species of risk within them.
Chacko says the conceptual trail design within the park would be developed in such a way as not to disturb the significant features.
"This would be, I guess I could say, a similar process to what has occurred at the Ojibway Prairie Complex," he says. "Specifically, when you go to the Ojibway Nature Center and you see those trail systems, this is what is being proposed and what would be developed within the woodlot itself."
The plan would see boardwalks, asphalt, and limestone trails built inside part of the woodlot as part of a four phase project if funding is approved.
Chacko told council this will not be the paving of the South Cameron woodlot, but there will be asphalt trails around it.
"Any of the trails that are going to be within the actual woodlot itself have been designed and will be using environmentally-friendly measures, taking into all consideration the species at risk or any of the endangered flora or fauna in the woodlot," he says.
Solar lights would also be included along the trail system as part of the plan, and they would be motion sensor activated.
The South Cameron woodlot is located off Ojibway Street in south Windsor.