Scarborough Bluffs West Project

With the Scarborough Waterfront Project having started construction last fall for the Brimley Road South Trail and the western segment to follow next year, this leaves the Eastern Beaches to Bluffers Park as the last major gap in the Waterfront Trail to fill in. The City of Toronto hosted a public consultation on Monday evening for the Scarborough Bluffs West Project which aims to fill that gap through an environmental assessment. Let’s dive in to see what’s in store.

The presentation materials for this round of consultation were hard to navigate with 25 separate PDF files linked on the project website! The first five links for Parts 1 and 2 go over the project background, existing conditions, development of alternatives, and evaluation criteria. The remaining are grouped into the following five segments showing site opportunities, the do-nothing scenario, the shoreline alternative(s), and the tableland alternative.

• Segment 1A – RC Harris Water Treatment Plant (Silver Birch Avenue to Fallingbrook Road)
• Section 1B – Toronto Hunt Club (Fallingbrook Road to Warden Avenue)
• Section 2 – Warden Avenue to Birchmount Road
• Section 3 – Birchmount Road to Midland Avenue
• Section 4 – Midland Avenue to Bluffers Park

Three new trail access points could be created east of RC Harris Water Treatment Plant, at Warden Avenue, and at Birchmount Road; while the existing Fishleigh Trail Access could see some improvements. These will help allow mixing and matching of alternatives.

Before getting into the nitty gritty, another aim of this project is to protect natural areas, habitats, and the sensitive shoreline. Only six percent of the natural shoreline remains due to centuries of erosion of the bluffs. Some of the shoreline treatments expected include armourstone revetments, groynes, islands, bridges, and boardwalks, while slope risk lines are marked along all options. Finally, the existing conditions noted some of the informal trails cut through sensitive areas, as well as the risk of invasive species and planned development intensification along Kingston Road.

For Segment 1A, both the shoreline and tableland options would see the Waterfront Trail extended about 350 metres east to Nursewood Road while preserving the Silver Birch Off-Leash Dog Park. The shoreline option would see the trail go along the south side of the water treatment plant while the tableland option would see the trail built next to Nursewood Road and Queen Street East. While the views of the water treatment plant would arguably be better with the shoreline option, the tableland option is also acceptable for this segment.

Segment 1B by the Toronto Hunt Club has three different shoreline options involving groynes, an elevated boardwalk, or islands and bridges. All three would include a revetment trail alignment for the eastern half. Among the three, I am the least keen on the islands and bridges option shown below given the risk of winter closures and lack of water access. The boardwalk option allows the beach to be preserved, but formal water access would require further study. The groynes option would allow direct water access, but require shoreline changes.

The tableland option would see bike lanes installed at the expense of removing parking – along with road widening – and the installation of a multi-use trail along Kingston Road, but the route would be less direct with no water access. Given the potential backlash removing parking in residential areas could cause, I doubt the tableland option will move forward. Therefore, I support either the groynes or boardwalk options.

Segment 2 from Warden to Birchmount has only one shoreline option, while the tableland option would involve a 2.5 metre road widening for bike lanes and a sidewalk at the expense of removing parking. As with Segment 1A, the tableland route is less direct and would be a non-starter due to the backlash over removing parking. However, erosion control would be needed by Crescentwood Road regardless of which option moves forward.

Section 3 from Birchmount to Midland has three shoreline options as with Segment 1B; those being groynes, elevated boardwalk, and islands and bridges. The alignment from Rosetta McClain Gardens to Scarborough Heights Park is the same for all three, while there will be two primary access nodes added to allow for programming. The tableland route would involve some road widening and parking removal to install bike lanes and a sidewalk, but a new trail would be built within Rosetta McClain Gardens and Scarborough Heights Park. As with Segment 1B, I would prefer either the groynes or elevated boardwalk options; the latter of which is pictured below. Having an existing gravel trail there should help make construction of that segment easier.

The site opportunities for Segment 3 included a potential switchback trail from Rosetta McClain Gardens to the lake. If the Fishleigh access is as steep as Gates Gully, I can see why it was proposed.

Two bridge options are presented as shoreline options for Segment 4 to get around the Needles. One would go straight to the Bluffer’s Park Lookout pictured below while the other would run closer to the Needles. It’s unfortunate both options cite the potential for winter closures. It does make me wonder whether there is an eco friendly way to do winter maintenance on the bridge. If so, we could use that treatment on the Humber Bay Arch Bridge which gets very icy in the winter!

That limitation could make the tableland route preferred for that segment which would include a new trail through Scarboro Crescent Park and a new switchback leading to Bluffer’s Park.

At Monday’s consultation, I found there was a fair bit of negative reception with a lot of comments supporting the “do nothing” option. Per this snapshot of the “do nothing” comments for Segment 1A, some people expressed concern over the costs, disturbing the natural environment, and some baseless comments about losing the dog park when both trail options would keep it.

The tableland option for Segment 1B saw some comments opposing the removal of parking. One NIMBY comment deserved a facepalm which claimed “people who don’t live in the neighbourhoods affected should not have a say in what happens over those of who live in the area”. WTF?!

However, there were some comments supporting the shoreline option for Segment 2.

The site opportunities panel for Segment 3 saw a fair bit of criticism over the proposed switchback behind Rosetta McClain Gardens.

If you couldn’t make it to the consultation, please complete the survey by Tuesday, June 30 to show your support for a shoreline trail. The environmental assessment process should wrap up next year with detailed design and construction timelines to be determined.