Residents of the Clearspring Greens neighbourhood just east of the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Course have intensified their lobby effort to get city council to build a pathway to connect them to the rest of the city. Dozens of people have emailed city councillors over the past week to demand a pathway. Mayor Chris Goertzen says it's a complicated issue because the developers of that neighbourhood designed it to have lesser services so they could offer lots at a lower cost. For example, it uses ditches instead of underground storm sewers and, as a result, he says there is no proper place for sidewalks. Goertzen adds it is difficult to add services after the fact.

Cyclists, pedestrians and motorists must share the roads in and around Clearspring Greens."Bringing them up to par with the rest of the city is always a difficult thing to do. To see them (the residents) engaged and wanting to have increased connectivity to the city is a good thing. Obviously, council has taken this seriously and we've been looking at it. There are not any easy solutions to this, but we continue to ask the administration to look for ways to connect this area to the rest of the city. The administration has been given the direction to simply look at other ways, to be a little bit more creative, on how we can connect them to the rest of the city with a sidewalk or a regional pathway. We do want to see every area of the city connected as much as possible."

Goertzen says the administration has been asked to develop proposals for city council's November study session. He notes the city no

longer allows developers to put in low service lots like the ones in Clearspring Greens.

Goertzen again commends the residents for staying proactive on this issue.

"It's great to see people engaged, it's great to see people wanting change in their neighbourhoods and increased connectivity. Council will have to grapple with this when it comes to the cost of connecting the area and the actual ability to do it with the lower level of service that this area currently has."