Item - 2023.IE7.8

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that:

1. City Council direct the Acting General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with the General Manager, Transportation Services, to explore the feasibility of, and optimal alignment for, a year-round trail connection between Earl Bales Park and York Mills Station that will achieve the following goals:

a. Not interfere with regular golf operations within the Don Valley Golf Course;

b. Maximize connectivity and safety for trail users and adjacent residential areas through formalizing existing improvised trails that may be substandard; and,

c. Minimize impact on important habitat and hydrogeological features of the ravine.

2. City Council direct the Acting General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to explore opportunities for public trail access through this section of the Don Valley on an interim basis in accordance with the Toronto Municipal Code and the goals in recommendation 1 above, while long-term trail designs are being evaluated and implemented.

3. City Council direct the Acting General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with the General Manager, Transportation Services, to report back with a recommended work plan for advancing both interim and long-term year-round trail connections resulting from recommendations 1 and 2 above, as well as a preliminary capital and operating cost estimates, to the Committee by the second quarter of 2024.

Toronto’s ravine systems are vital to the city. They provide for storm water management, healthy ecosystems, as well as beautiful green spaces that are universally appreciated. In many communities, Toronto’s ravines also provide for critical connectivity, allowing for residents to walk, bike, or otherwise get to parks and community centres, public transit stations, or into nature without requiring the use or expense of a car and to cross under highways like the 401 that otherwise divide neighbourhoods. Where year-round trail connections do not exist in Toronto, such as between Earl Bales Park and York Mills Station, it is incumbent upon the City to explore the ways they can be created to achieve these benefits.

In 2022, City Council passed IE27.6 – Review of City of Toronto Golf Courses and directed staff to advance the implementation of strategies that would improve ravine access and trail connections. With the conclusion of the Negotiated Request for Proposal Process for the management of City-owned golf courses (GG7.17), it is the appropriate time to explore how year-round trail access can be created around the Don Valley Golf Course, connecting Earl Bales Park to Yonge Street and providing access to and from adjacent residential communities without impacting regular golf operations. Today, the only formal trails that connect these areas pass through the middle of the golf course and are closed to the community between April and November.

Access to greenspace is also an important equity consideration, particularly where there are opportunities to improve mobility. With many purpose-built affordable apartment buildings along Sheppard and close to this ravine, a connection could materially benefit many individuals and families into the foreseeable future.

With capital plans for some 10,000 trees and shrubs to be planted in 2025 in this section of the Don Valley ravine, now is the time to advance a plan that improves accessibility, while complementing golf course operations and supporting ravine habitat and conservation efforts.