A draft bylaw for supervising use of the 46 km Millennium Trail has been sent back to staff for more work.

Developed with input from the PEC Trails Committee, the local chapter of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, the ATV Trail Riders group, the OPP, and County solicitor Sarah Viau, the draft proposal makes many improvements. It offers more clarity around permitted and prohibited uses of the trail, and updates enforcement procedures to resolve the inconsistencies. 

But councillors also found it heavy handed on fines, and worried the new rules were essentially unenforceable without additional resources, meaning funds.

Albert Paschkowiak, Supervisor of Environmental Services and Sustainability, explained that regulators—including Prince Edward OPP, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the bylaw department—would have improved legal abilities to fine those breaking County bylaws and to see a case through the Ontario Court of Justice system in the case of an appeal.

“We’ve been told that the OPP cannot enforce anything because the municipality doesn’t have the short forms. We don’t have these packages in the back end (of the existing bylaw),” Mr. Paschkowiak said. “The idea was to meet that requirement to allow for enforcement.”

Committee of the Whole Chair John Hirsch noted the motion provides all the mechanisms to manage the trail, but wondered who would be responsible for the job. “What’s missing are the resources to do the enforcement. We don’t have the resources in the bylaw department and the OPP are not going to be travelling up and down the trail and enforcing our bylaws without an increase to their budget,” he noted.

User Fees

County staff suggested implementing user fees to support OPP patrols.

Charging both trail use and parking fees are an option, and could be included as part of the summer pass program.

Funds generated from user-fees would improve trail maintenance, purchase equipment, and even provide ATVs to either OPP or bylaw officers. “This would allow for routine patrols and better enforcement,” noted Mr. Paschkowiak. 

He suggested Council could direct staff to present an option to purchase an ATV for the 2027 Budget.

User fees, however, are controversial. Initial consultations with the user groups made that clear. Council could also direct staff to undertake wider consultations.

For the Farmers

The trail bisects numerous parcels of farmland between Picton and Carrying Place, and farmers with tractors and combines find ATVs running up and down the trail a hazard. They’ve been known to trim back buckthorn and tree limbs so they can see what’s coming at them over the crest of the trail. 

But the bylaw also proposes a $300 fine for planting, removing or destroying any living tree, shrub, or ground cover without authorization.

“What you’re going to have is neighbours ratting out neighbours,” said Councillor Phil Prinzen, calling some of the measures and attached fines “absurd.”

There are 63 different offences listed in the updated fine schedule. Most align with the Off-Road Vehicles Act (ORVA), Highway Traffic Act (HTA), or the Motorized Snow Vehicles Act (MSVA). Fines range from $150-$500.

But some are unique to the municipality. Those include a $500 fine for using the Millennium Trail for commercial purposes, and a $200 fine for entering or exiting at unauthorized access points.

“If we looked 20 years into the future, when we have new subdivisions abutting the trail all along it and thousands more people using it, we probably need something of this extreme,” Councillor Hirsch countered. 

“We will possibly be charging admission and providing money in budgets for more bylaw enforcement officers, and ATVS and money for the OPP.

“But this seems a little much at this point without the resources,” he concluded.