A local club is gearing up to make Timmins an ATV tourism destination.
Before that can happen, there's a lot of work to be done.
The Timmins ATV Club was at council this week laying out its vision. Patrick Dzijacky, who successfully brokered the roll-out of the program allowing snowmobiles to access some local streets, is working as the technical advisor for the ATV club. He and president Rick Marin, who is also a member of the snowmobile club, made the presentation.
The first step forward is a bylaw allowing ATVs to be used within the City of Timmins limits. The club also wants permission to improve a section of trail from the Esso Truck Stop west to Waferboard Road (near Malette Lumber Road). No decisions were made on these asks and a bylaw will be brought back to an upcoming meeting.
Later this year, the club plans to return to council to talk about phasing in the use of ATVs on city streets.
The club has money set aside to improve the section of trail along Highway 101 West. They've also talked to the truck stop about using part of the parking lot to offload ATVs, have agreements with landowners in the areas affects and contractors in place, said Dzijacky.
“Basically this would be not on city streets, but following the OFSC trail. Using the allowance on the side of the road, we have money set aside with materials to improve culverts and improve the trail base from the Esso to Waferboard Road, which connects you to all their open trails,” he said.
If the initial bylaw is approved, Dzijacky suggested that council should also consider opening up two blocks on Government Road and the small section of road to the Microtel.
"If we include that in this proposed bylaw, you would now have access to a hotel, to a gas station, to food and we could start to gauge on the interest of outside of town ATV riders,” he said.
The Timmins ATV Club has been around since 2015. In the last couple of years, progress has been made with improving trails. At an upcoming AGM, members will be voting on approving the finalized constitution and bylaws.
Over the years, they've talked to the council of the day a number of times.
The last time was a couple of years ago when members pitched opening up certain streets to ATVs, but nothing was formally approved.
Currently, the club has over 395 kilometres of open trails.
“Right now there’s no way to leave the City of Timmins to access these trails and technically it’s illegal to ride an ATV within the municipal boundaries. Trails do connect to other communities, we do have tourist outfitters along the way and other popular destinations,” he said.
Through a bylaw to allow ATVs in the city, the club hopes to boost local permit sales and club membership and attract tourists.
They are hoping to pave the initial bylaw approved quickly so that the connecting trail can be built and potentially used this summer.
Timing is key and Dzijacky talked about how the area could be a leader in northeastern Ontario.
“It’s really hard to catch up. From the snowmobile side, Cochrane has a stronghold on the snowmobiling market, you can’t argue that. We have come a long way, there’s still a lot of people who come through Timmins, but we could be the first one here. We could be putting Timmins on the map for ATV tourism and we could be ahead of a lot of theses smaller communities if we start really pushing this and going forward with this,” he said.
There's also a benefit to having the snowmobile club and ATV club working together.
“Whatever the ATV club does on a trail it just means we can open that trail sooner. We don’t have to wait for a creek to freeze because the ATV club put a culvert in. If we can have these multi-purpose trails, it’s going to open up funding for joint development of bridges, culverts, makes permit applications much easier, makes money go a lot farther and we can bring in a lot more funds with these multi-use projects,” said Dzijacky.
Council members want to have community feedback ahead of making any changes.
The ATV club will be at this weekend's Sportsman Show to share what they are doing and garner support.
“My analytical brain is thinking about the attendees at a sportsman show are more than likely going to be in full support. So what other mechanisms would be in place to ensure fulsome engagement process?” said Coun. Kristin Murray.
Timmins Police is also not entirely on board with the idea yet.
With COVID-19, it was a struggle to have face-to-face meetings and there have been setbacks.
“Right now, the conversations have been good, but we have not been able to get to a point where they would support ATVs on streets like they did with snowmobiles,” said Dzijacky.
He said the bylaw being pitched is a middle ground to start at because it would let people see ATVs along the highway, get used to the idea and provide feedback.
