The issue was brought up at council earlier this week when a report with possible options to the problems occurring on the walkway was presented.

Recently, Thorold city staff had been made aware of a situation where pieces of a homeowner's fence, that backs on to the lane, was broken off and thrown into the resident's backyard causing damage to some of the property.

"We've followed proper channels, spoken to policing committee, and exhausted every opportunity," said Coun. Jonathan LePera. "Our best opportunity to remedy this would be to close it down."

Other options that were presented were to build a two metre high chain link fence which would make the existing fence unavailable. The approximate cost of this would be $5,000.

Option two would be to close the walkway by installing locking gates at both ends. The approximate cost of this would be $4,000. As well, a new two metre high chain link fence would be required on the opposite side of the private fence to prevent entry into the gated area, as the existing fence is only one metre high. A length of about 40 metres would be needed which would result in a cost of $5,000.

"Option 1 and 2 would cost $14,000," said LePera. "And that's not satisfactory."

LePera noted that after the resident had gone to the media, they had been targeted by individuals.

Coun. Shawn Wilson agreed.

"I've had numerous calls and e-mails from the resident," said Wilson. "They have no enjoyment of their yards at all." Wilson also said that a piece of wood with a nail in it had been tossed into their yard and had landed in the pool, causing the resident to replace the liner.

He also said the most important thing to consider is the residents being affected constantly.

"We have an obligation to do this at this point. We need to close the walkway," said Wilson.

There are currently 10 walkways located in Confederation Heights South Community. Council previously approved a staff report in 2005 which denied a similar request based on the idea that the walkways serve a purpose and closing the walkway would result in moving the problem to another location.

"It's a shame the actions of a few individuals cost a walkway to Confederation park," said LePera.