Schneider land donation receives green light from Wilmot Township

Wilmot Township has given the green light for the Schneider family to donate a portion of their property to Rare Charitable Reserve for ecological conservation.

The update to the almost four-year back and forth comes after Wilmot found a solution to its concerns about parking safety that would avoid cutting into the natural environment by building a parking lot or widening roadways.

Concerns about parking safety were raised when Schneider family, known locally for its major food-processing company, wanted to donate about 95 hectares (235 acres) of ecologically significant land they've owned in Wilmot for more than 40 years.

But the township wants to make sure there is enough space to safely park in the area before the land is donated to Rare Charitable Research Reserve and rezoned.

According to its bylaw, the township would not be allowed to build any structure or parking lot once the land is rezoned from agricultural land to Zone 11 Open Space land, unless it's a public park, playground, recreation area, arboretum, wildlife sanctuary, golf course or farming area. 

Wilmot council said it has decided to ban parking in the winter on Carmel-Koch Road, with some parking available during summer months, and ban parking year round on Berlett's Road.

They're also reducing speeds on Wilmot Line and banning heavy trucks from driving through. Traffic-calming measure will be added to the intersection of Wilmot Line and Wideman Road.

The cost of all those adjustments will be share equally with the City of Waterloo, according to a report that went to council Monday.

The township will need to budget $5,000 on top of the shared costs for additional signage on Carmel-Koch Road and Berlett's Road.

Natasha Salonen, the mayor of Wilmot Township, says there may be a need to come up with more parking solutions down the road as more people visit the popular cross-country ski destination.

"It was mentioned by delegates [during Monday's council meeting]... about being able to park close to the trail head on winter roads, so staff are going to be bringing back information on that," she said, adding that the costs of those potential parking solutions will be included into future budgets on an as-per-need basis.

So far, the total costs to Wilmot Township are estimated at $30,000, with costs for Waterloo estimated at $25,000.