Snowmobiles on the streets: more northern Ontario cities want to make it easier for riders to get around

Snowmobiles could soon be an even more common sight on the streets of northern Ontario cities.

Sault Ste. Marie is the latest to look at expanding the number of streets where snow machines are allowed.

City council voted this week to have staff report back with the specifics.

Sault city councillor Rick Niro agrees with the goal of attracting more tourists, but isn't sure how he'll vote in the end. 

"We do things today in environmentally friendly mode, and we want to decrease auto dependency and this kind of goes against that, but there has to be a balance," Niro says. 

"Sometimes you get comments from residents and you hear them that there is a problem with snow machines that they don't mix with motor vehicles and they don't mix with pedestrians and the two of them clash."

Sudbury has allowed snowmobiles to travel on streets for many years, but it was formalized in a bylaw a few years ago.

Sudbury Trail Plan president Murray Baker says they still get complaints about trespassing and noise every winter.

"Those kinds of complaints which are normal, which we get all the time, but I can't say they've certainly gone up," says Baker. 

Timmins is also experimenting with allowing snowmobile on more city streets.

Patrick Dzijacky from the Timmins Snowmobile Club says he's been clear with riders that if they don't follow the rules and upset other citizens, they'll be kicked off the streets.

"We did the work, now it's up to them to follow the rules. So it's basically up to them now to lose. If they don't follow the rules, they could lose this privilege," he says. 

The goal is to make it easier for locals to access trails and easier for tourists to get to local businesses.

All northern Ontario cities are seeing an influx of snowmobile tourists in recent years, with warmer weather causing poor trail conditions in the south.