St. John's no longer paying for trail maintenance in Pippy Park

The City of St. John's will no longer be footing the bill for maintaining popular walking trails like Kent's Pond and Long Pond in Pippy Park.

Coun. Danny Breen, chair of the public works committee, says the city outlined in its budget that it would only be providing those services to walking trails within the city's boundaries.

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Since Pippy Park is a provincially-owned property, Breen said the province should be taking on those costs.

"It's provincial government property and provincial government responsibility, so we think that the provincial government should be maintaining those," said Breen.

"We certainly looked at areas where we were providing services to properties that weren't owned by the City of St. John's and were not our responsibility per se, so that's why we made the decision."

The city provided services on the trail such as garbage collection and the garbage containers, as well as dispensers for dog waste bags.

Breen said once the budget was approved in December, the city notified the Pippy Park Commission that the $80,000 grant would be cut.

He added the city will continue to maintain other trails within the city limits, including those at Quidi Vidi Lake and Kenny's Pond, among others.

Could look bad for tourism

Meanwhile, Dan Helmbold, who works with the Fluvarium at Long Pond, said he's worried about a possible lack of garbage collection on the trails.

"So far the bags for poop collection have been removed for dogs and dog owners, and also the garbage cans aren't being lined anymore," he said.

"They're still being used, but unfortunately there's no garbage bag liners in there and they won't be being picked up, and that's a big concern."

Helmbold said as an environmental organization, the Fluvarium is concerned if the trash isn't picked up, it could reflect poorly on the province's tourism industry.

In addition, since the Fluvarium is right on the entrance to the trail and people use its parking lot to walk the trails, he's worried it might even reflect poorly on the Fluvarium.

"[If] the trail grooming not happening, the dog bags not supplied and the garbage not being picked up, it potentially could lead to complaints — and we're at the head of the trail," he said.

"We want the public to know that we're not responsible for maintaining this system … we're not the ones who made the decision to stop cleaning."