The Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC) has given the Township of Minden Hills close to ten thousand dollars for their Master Trails Plan. Director of Community Services, Mark Coleman put through the application which says the plan will be about improving existing trails and parks. Coleman says his plan right now is to work on hiring a consultant to help with marketing and promotions and any opportunities to expand and connect trails.
The project is also being funded by the Rural Economic Development fund who gave just over 21 thousand dollars to the township back in October. Coleman says the original deadline for the project was December 31, 2014 because the provincial funding was supposed to be announced last spring. But with the provincial election, it put everything on hold, pushing the deadline back to March 31, 2015. However, Coleman says they’re asking for another extension until the end of May because approval just came through for the HCDC funding.
After adding up the funds from each organization, the department’s reserves will pay for the remainder of the project. The total cost is close to 44 thousand dollars.