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FOIL Close the Gap campaign raises $540k

December 10, 2014   ·   0 Comments

The Friends of Island Lake (FOIL) told Orangeville and Mono Councils this week that they have successfully raised more than half the $800,000 needed to complete the loop trail around Island Lake.

Out of the total required by FOIL’s Close the Gap Campaign to finish the final stretch, which begins at the Home Hardware entrance and would wrap around the west shore of the lake to connect with the existing trails, they have now received $540,000.

“Right now we are in the process of trying for a Trillium grant,” Bob Shirley explained to councillors during a delegation from FOIL and the CVC. “With the help we’re requesting, and if everything goes right, we’ll have enough money to complete it.”

Towards the end of the summer and early fall, teams of volunteers set to work on the beginning stages of the trail, which will include three new bridges. The portions on land have all been scrubbed, and they are currently waiting for the temperature to drop before proceeding with the Geopiles® necessary to secure the new bridges.

The Geopile® is designed to deal with foundation problems. The screw piles from Geopile® are an ideal foundation for any structure needing a permanent, solid support that also prevents the negative effects of frost, adapting easily to soil conditions and terrain accessibility.

Because of the type of land the new bridges will be built on, they cannot place the wood poles used on the already constructed ones. In order to install the Geopiles, they need the outdoor temperature to drop much further, to at least –20º C.

“We just pray for cold weather; we need it really cold,” said Mr. Shirley. “We’d really like to get about 18 inches of ice before we get out there.”

Federal grants provided so far towards the trails total $149,000, but FOIL would like to see a Trillium Foundation grant help show Province backing the project. The current amount of money raised is enough for them to start moving forward with the project, and the group is hoping the towns of Orangeville and Mono will be able to contribute $25,000 each to the remainder of the project. Both Councils passed a motion to take the amount under consideration in their 2015 budgets.

“This should be the last time we have to ask for funds for this project,” said Mr. Shirley. “If all goes according to plan, we won’t be back again.”

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