Improvements to Picton Harbour Trail lookouts begin

Queen Elizabeth Park, on Hill Street, overlooks the harbour

Work to improve three lookouts on the Picton Harbour trail has begun this week at Queen Elizabeth Park on Hill Street, Picton Marina, and Chimney Point.

New landscape features such as interlocking brick, plantings, shade structures, and more seating are under way to encourage greater enjoyment of the harbor views.

It is anticipated the work will be complete by mid-December.

The $350,000 Harbour Trail project is funded in part, $262,500, through the Canada Community Revitalization Fund, and $87,500 from the County’s parkland reserve.

A task team of the Community and Economic Development Commission (CEDC) developed the conceptual plan for the trail. The team included members of council, CEDC, Accessibility Advisory Committee, Heritage Advisory Committee, and the Picton BIA.

Seven lookouts are included in the conceptual plan, along with other elements – pathways, sidewalks, boardwalks, green spaces and foot bridges.

Implementing these elements will take place in future years as additional funding becomes available. The municipality continues to work with private property owners to negotiate easements in order to eventually create a continuous boardwalk around the mouth of the Picton Harbour.

Once complete, the trail will be more than two kms long and be connected by the seven green spaces/lookouts around the harbour. The municipality is working with a cultural interpreter to create seven information panels that tell a variety of stories about the harbour. The panels are to include information about the history, ecology, industry and people that shaped the harbour.