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Funding secured to extend Sunningdale trail

A man behind the Waneta Dam expansion project has dipped into his resources and helped raise the remaining money needed to put an unofficial hiking trail on the map.

A man behind the Waneta Dam expansion project has dipped into his resources and helped raise the remaining money needed to put an unofficial hiking trail on the map.

Wally Penner, regional project manager for the engineering and construction firm SNC Lavalin, kept his word to give back to Trail for storing explosive product in locked and monitored magazines North of Sunningdale across the river from Rivervale.

“I made a commitment to the city that I would try and organize contributors to try and get this trail to happen up there,” said Penner. “This is really a legacy for the Sunningdale residents and others because a lot of people use that trail.”

Penner, with assistance from city administrator Michelle McIsaac, lobbied Waneta Tunellers (Redpath-Frontier Kemper), ASL Joint Venture and Emil Anderson Construction to donate $8,000 – capping off the $25,000 needed to update the unnamed trail.

The 3.5 kilometre route begins about half way up the Miral Heights trail, loops around to the Sunningdale viewpoint and back to Miral Heights.

“The generosity shown by these companies will enable the completion of this trail by mid fall this year,” Hal Harrison of Kootenay Columbia Trail Society told council at its last regular meeting. “It goes well beyond what would normally be considered.”

Upgrades involve widening the trail by 18 inches, building rock wall berms and ensuring the trail stays at about an eight per cent slope.

A ribbon cutting will soon unveil the trail, originated by Trail resident Marc Desrosiers.