CAMBRIDGE - Jim Barton and his neighbours assumed that a ribbon of green space would buffer their houses from the strangers settling into a new suburb being built nearby.

So they were shocked when work crews arrived beside their homes to drain a cherished pond and prepare for public trails on green space they have long enjoyed but don't own.

"Make no mistake - our neighbourhood is going to change, and not for the better," Barton warned his neighbours, rallying them against trail plans for the adjacent Hunt Club Valley subdivision in Hespeler.

"The picture of curious hikers walking up my front yard ... to have a 'look see' is not a situation I can sit back and accept."

Cambridge council approved the new subdivision of up to 2,433 homes in 2015. It borders a subdivision of up to 60 estate homes on large lots off Beaverdale Road.

Residents of the estate homes say they were never told about public trails or alterations to Middle Creek.

"I was completely taken aback. Nobody knew anything," said Loreto Saccucci, a technology executive. Work crews arrived suddenly at the edge of his yard to begin chewing up the earth.

After residents raised a ruckus, city hall has agreed to consider options, working with Hunt Club Valley developer Ian Rawlings and the local wetlands agency. A further meeting will be held with residents.

Rawlings said it's good planning to install public trails and alter the creek. He said creek plans came out of a publicized watershed study more than a decade ago.

In 2015 Cambridge council voted to naturalize Middle Creek based on a "detailed aquatic restoration plan" that was made public at an open house, city records reveal. It involves draining a pond for the creek to meander more naturally.

"As I understand it the pond really wasn't environmentally in good shape," Coun. Donna Reid said.

The trail plan for the new subdivision was finalized in 2017 with approval of city staff after council approved the subdivision. "That was not a public process," Rawlings said.

Reid supports trails for residents of the new subdivision, pending a review. "We're trying to make healthy living and we're trying to get people to be able to walk to where they go," she said.

Rawlings sees a brief window to review plans. But he's required by contract to alter the creek and install trails before turning the green space over to the city as public land. This is his intent unless something changes.

"If we can resolve something in a bit of time, that's great. But I have to build this," he said. "We can always look at installing a fence." Fencing, which estate neighbours previously did not want, would be at the developer's expense.

Barton, a retired blacksmith, argues that letting thousands use trails beside his home will degrade a sanctuary where wildlife flourishes, devalue property and threaten the lifestyles of his neighbours.

Saccucci understands how pushback could be seen as existing homeowners trying to block new homeowners from enjoying the same open space.

But as someone who cycles often on wilderness trails, he also sees what people bring to trails: syringes, abandoned clothing, campfire remnants. This concerns him.

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