The winding path to make a ravine accessible
At long last Rosedale and the Don Valley are joined as they (almost) always were meant to be.
The Chorley Park switchback opened recently, providing an accessible, easy-to-navigate connection from the northeast corner of Rosedale down into Mud Creek ravine and connecting to the Beltline Trail beside the Don Valley Brick Works.
It does seem like it was always meant to be, considering the amount of time this project has been in the works. In 2012, the Beltline Trail Strategy identified a need for an accessible and safe route up and down the ravine wall here. After initial public consultations were undertaken, construction was ready to begin in 2014, but soon “Stop Chorley Park Switchback” signs began appearing on the mowed lawns of Rosedale mansions and McMansions. The plan was too big and too many trees were to be cut down, were among the Rosedale objectors concerns, and construction was halted.
City staff established a community working group and held three additional public meetings. They redesigned the project to address some of the resident concerns, including minimizing retaining walls, adding a natural-surface footpath to fit in with the natural setting, and adding a bioswale to collect stormwater before it reached the Beltline Trail below. They also rerouted the trail connection between the top of the ravine and the sidewalk.
Despite all the added consultation and work, in September of last year, the group mounted daily protests in the park as construction was underway. They held signs that read, “This is crazy making John Tory” and “No $1.3 million superhighway in the park.” It’s ironic, then, that protests drove up the cost.
In 2014, the budget for the project was $1.4 million, but staff estimate the final number will be closer to $2 million, with an estimated $140,000 directly attributed to additional consultation and redesign. According to a city spokesperson, some of the cost increase can also be attributed to redesigning retaining walls so they won’t be visible once vegetation grows out, adding a staircase for people who don’t want to go back and forth on the switchback, and raising the Beltline Trail to the foot of the switchback, all done to address resident concerns.
Keep in mind there were two years of public consultations for the initial 2014 project where residents could have contributed to the process constructively before all the protest, delays and cost increases. Just imagine the extra staff time devoted to their concerns.
As for what some residents called a “clear cut,” this particular slope, adjacent to what was one of the Don Valley’s biggest industrial sites, was long a scrubby place and hardly a forest. Invasive trees, a threat to the sensitive ravine ecosystem, were removed for the project while endangered butternut trees were protected. Very little, if any, of our ravines could be considered “old growth” as much has been reforested, often poorly.
The switchback is a project of the city of Toronto’s parks, forestry and recreation department, who contracted out the work to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. They have considerable experience providing both access to natural spaces in our ravines, but also renaturalizing areas with appropriate native plants and trees.
Landscape architects will tell you — lament actually — that unlike a building, which is “done” pretty much the moment construction is completed, landscape designs take years and decades to grow into what might be considered done. Trees and shrubs take their time maturing, so there’s often a naked look to new projects, yet the switchback already seems lush, even on an overcast November day.
The slope of the path is long and smooth and will make it much easier for not just bikes to access the valley but also people pushing strollers and those using mobility devices, one of the main reasons for this project in the first place. Despite being seemingly everywhere, Toronto ravines can be difficult to access. Entrances are often hidden or hard to find, and many of them are not universally accessible. Prior to this, the paths down to the ravine floor here were steep, narrow and in disrepair, only for the fit of body and fleet of foot.
The Evergreen Brick Works, one of the major destinations in the Valley, was equally hard to get to if you didn’t come by car.
In 2016, the 28 Bayview bus from Davisville Station connected to the Brick Works. Now, on top of the private shuttle that runs to Broadview Station, the Rosedale 82 bus stops alongside Chorley Park and its riders can take the switchback down.
An interesting aspect of the switchback is the path that leads through the park to either Douglas or Roxborough Drs. follows the driveway and “moat” bridge that are the only remaining traces of the massive French Chateau-inspired mansion that stood here, once home to Ontario’s lieutenant governor but demolished in 1960.
Now you can smoothly exit or enter the Don Valley like a viceroy might have, a worthy finale to this unnecessarily long saga.