Concept plan for a trailhead centre in Harrowsmith

Jeff Green | Feb 24, 2011

The village of Harrowsmith sees a lot of traffic every day.

A steady stream of vehicles heads south to Kingston in the morning, and north in the afternoon. Vehicles head west on the Wilton Road to L&A County, Belleville, and Toronto, and east on the Harrowsmith-Sydenham Road.

Just south of the busy four road junction at the lower end of the village there is another, more sedate junction, between the east-west Cataraqui Trail and the North-South K&P Trail.

Frontenac County, which has taken the lead in K&P trail development, hired a landscape architect and designer, Scott Wentworth, to come up with a design concept for a park and a small (20' x 40') two-storey building to give opportunities for users of the two non-motorized trails to congregate. He presented his preliminary design to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week, on February 16.

To mark Harrowsmith's historic past, Wentworth recommends replicating, in part, the design of the historic Harrowsmith rail station. As part of the landscaping for the site, which is located on the west side of Road 38 adjacent to Harrowsmith Storage, Wentworth proposes designating an area for a self-forming ice rink, similar to one he built at the residence for St. Lawrence College. The sunken area would include drainage tiles so it would not be flooded in the other seasons, but when the water freezes on the surface and underground, an ice rink would form.

The concept plan for the project was done as part of the K&P Trail development work that has been spearheaded by Frontenac County Economic Development Manager Anne-Marie Young.

“What is the cost estimate for this project?” Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle asked.

“There has been no costing done for this yet,” said Wentworth.

Anne-Marie Young said, “We still have to go through this and figure out where the funding will come from. South Frontenac, the Cataraqui Trail Authority, and Frontenac County are all potential partners. We are through phase 1 and we will see if we get a buy in for phase 2 and 3 of this.”

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski said that the Trans-Canada Trail could be approached as well.

“How will the final details and budget for this project be determined?” Dennis Doyle asked.

“That could be determined by contribution,” said Warden Gary Davison. “You know about the golden rule.”

“Yes,” said Doyle, “whoever brings the gold will make the rules.”

Scott Wentworth's design will be presented at public meetings and to South Frontenac Council as well.