An open letter to Mayor Haddock and Members of the Town of Mono Council,

I attended the Tuesday, April 13th council meeting to listen to the decision-making around the expansion of the gravel pit in Monora Park. I had hoped to add to Councilor Castel comment that there were several interest groups involved in this debate: the cross country skiers (members of the Mono Nordic Ski Club), the ecologists (those upset by the recent clearing of trees), and the tax payers, who would like to save money by using gravel extracted in the town of Mono. I would like to add a fourth group, whose voices were not represented and are being overlooked, the children of Mono.

I am a teacher at the only elementary school in Mono Township, Mono Amaranth Public School. I have taught in the Junior Division (Grades 4- 6) since 2001. Throughout the winter, our Junior classes participate in the Elementary Program sponsored by the Mono Nordic Ski Club. This winter, 85 students learned to cross country ski on the Monora Park trails, and another 30 students from Grades 5 to 8 trained at the club after school as members of the MAPS XC Ski team. The students benefit tremendously from the opportunity to develop their level of fitness and enjoy winter outdoors with their friends. As the head coach, I can assure you that we use the entire trail system including those in danger of being lost or significantly compromised by gravel pit expansion.

On behalf of the children of the Town of Mono I am sending you this letter, to encourage you to think about the long term effects of the decisions you will be making around the expansion of the gravel pit. Recreational facilities are a valuable asset to skiers in winter and hikers and bikers in summer. I am sure you have spent an afternoon during other seasons walking, hiking or biking in the park. What really is the true dollar value of our green spaces, our treed parkland, the places to enjoy the outdoors? In a time when there is so much concern around obesity in our young people, poor fitness, lack of appreciation of the natural world, the answer is obvious: Create opportunities for fitness, don’t destroy them!

The “Friends of Island Lake” are working so hard to secure the funds to build a trail around the reservoir that the children of Mono have been and will continue to benefit from tremendously. The trails at Monora Park are equally valuable. Of course the municipality needs gravel, but what are the true long term costs versus savings of further expansion and the subsequent rehabilitation? Why not purchase of gravel elsewhere for current road projects and keep the gravel in reserve? Are you sure that the tax payers would not be willing to buy gravel in order to protect their recreational resource? I think your future tax payers would. I urge you to weigh the costs and benefits of gravel extraction at Monora Park carefully before making a decision on additional expansion.

Chris Langman