KAGAWONG—While Billings Township officials are pleased Bridal Veil Falls is such a huge tourist attraction, bringing people in nationwide and from around the world, parking on the highway in the area of the attraction is still a huge problem, one that appears to have gotten worse this year.
“Especially this year, there is a problem with parking with an uptick in tourism, especially on holiday weekends,” stated Bryan Barker, mayor of Billings. “With the COVID pandemic completely over, there has been an increase in people visiting the falls. The problem with parking is only going to get worse and we are wanting to get ahead of it, with a proactive approach.”
Mr. Barker and a delegation from Billings met with Ministry of Transportation (MTO) officials in August, as part of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference held in Ottawa.
“We are working in partnership with the ministry in regard to parking issues on the highway at the Bridal Veil Falls area,” said Mayor Barker. “They agreed to work with us on some possible resolutions on the issue and will be meeting us as early as next week to look at mitigating the parking issue (with vehicles being parked in areas on the highway that they are not allowed and causing safety concerns). Being that we are talking about a provincial highway (540) we need ministry permission to carry out any options being looked at.”
Mayor Barker indicated, “In 2023 we met with the ministry, and several good ideas came out of the meeting, for instance the installation of crosswalks across the highway, parking delineators on the shoulder where people try to park, which can be removed in the winter for snow removal. Whether any of these or other options are practical we will hash this out at our meeting with the MTO.”
The Billings delegation met with provincial ministry officials on three different issues. “We were looking for guidance on funding opportunities available to complete the Small Craft Harbour with new washrooms, laundry and showers,” said Mayor Barker, after the meeting with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism representatives.
“We are looking for guidance on funding streams, or areas where funding can be sourced that are already in place,” said Mayor Barker.
“The third delegation we had was with the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility,” said Mayor Barker. “We were looking for guidance on how we can get funding and approval for continued funding and a permanent location for our very successful seniors active living program.”
“This is a program that has been very successful,” said Mayor Barker. “At our meeting they gave us a couple of leads and direction on sources for funding we can apply for.”