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THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • 3 CITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE CITY NEWSCITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE By Samantha Beattie Chronicle Sta� A yellow brick road of sorts is planned for Waterloo Park to the tune of more than $800,000. Called a glowing stone trail, it will be the � rst of its kind in North America. Composed of stones that light up in bright and colourful patterns, the trail itself will appear to glow at night. During the day, the concrete surface will look no di� erent than typical concrete. "I think it will be a huge attraction," said Anna lee Sangster, development engineer, to the � nance and strategic planning commit- tee Feb. 27. "Visible from the Ion, it will pull people o� to come and explore through the night and hopefully bring them into Water- loo Park and uptown Waterloo." � e city is focused on upgrading a one- kilometre trail segment that runs parallel to the region's LRT corridor between the Erb Street West and Caroline Street intersec- tion and Seagram Drive. According to the city, this segment is one of the busiest in the region, with 30,000 cycling or pedestrian trips a month on average. The $806,000 budget is a "high esti- mate" for what will be a three-metre-wide, 400-metre-long glowing stone trail, said Sangster. � e city applied to the Canada 150 Infra- structure Program to cover part of the fund- ing, but were unsuccessful. Instead, about half the money will come from the capital reserve fund, as budgeted, and the other half will come from the uptown development reserve fund, which wasn't budgeted. It will be completed this summer. Coun. Mark Whaley was skeptical of the cost, which doesn't include long-term main- tenance or operating expenses. "I can promise you a lot of citizens in Waterloo will think spending this much on glowing rocks to be really frivolous," he said, before supporting the motion with "some trepidation." "What we are doing could be remarkable, or could be a really big bust for us going for- ward." The city was inspired by a cycle path installed in the Netherlands in 2014. Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde created a glow- ing stone pattern based on Vincent van Gogh's painting � e Starry Night. Many social and traditional media stories followed, but the glowing stones have yet to be implemented in Canada or the United States. "There are thousands of people who come to our community every year … Let's wow them," said Coun. Melissa Durrell, who sits on the parks committee that helped shape the idea. There are two possible locations for the glowing stone trail -- one is beside Silver Lake, the other is closer to Father David Bauer Drive. Both are close to the Perim- eter Institute, which will be working closely with the city on the glowing stone pattern to re� ect the scienti� c research it does. "There's always better ways to spend money, but if we do this, then we don't live in a grey city," said Coun. Brian Bourke. "It sounds frivolous, but a city is more than pipes and sewers and electricity. It has to have some heart to it." � e city will put out a request for propos- als that include information about main- tenance and operating fees and how the glowing stones will wear and tear under salt, snow and ice. Sta� and council will recon- sider the project if it ends up not meeting the city's goals. All councillors voted to approve $800,000 in funding, with the exception of Coun. Angela Vieth and Coun. Bob Mavin, who were not in attendance. Harvest tables Along with the glowing stones trail, two harvest tables will be installed in Waterloo Park. "Given the long, rich history of Waterloo Park, we wanted to give the community the opportunity to help shape the call for art- ists," said Katie Wilde, culture program spe- cialist. The city collected stories, experiences and impressions of Waterloo Park from the public, which artists had the opportunity to review before designing their proposals. A jury selected Ted Fullerton as the artist who will create the 17-metre-long tables featuring benches, accessibil- ity gaps for wheelchair and stroller users, a squirrel sculpture and oversized acorn sculpture. The tables and benches will be made using stone bronze steel and the sculptures will be cold cast bronze resin. The tables will be in an area that fronts Father David Bauer Drive, close to the skate park, in the spring. "� ey'll provide a place of casual rest for people to stay a while, to eat, read and watch children or have a community gathering," Wilde said. � e harvest tables will be funded through a $50,000 sponsorship from a local company. Council approved the release of $593,000 to go toward other 2017 and 2018 projects for Waterloo Park. � ese include: • Twinning of the pedestrian bridge along the central promenade • Creating a pedestrian entry feature near the Central Street entry with seating and gathering area • Upgrading the Bauer parking lot • Designing a festival area for gatherings of up to 5,000 people (construction to begin in 2020). Lighting the way Glowing stone trail with $800K price tag planned for Waterloo Park The � rst glowing stone trail, pictured here, is in the Netherlands, and plays off of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. STUDIO ROOSEGAARDE PHOTO