Planning for a park that will cover the entire waterfront of Eastern Scarborough began with an announcement last week by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
The TRCA is preparing an environmental study to create a "destination park featuring a system of linked scenic landscapes both along the top of the bluffs and at the water’s edge," from Bluffers Park to East Point Park.
Meant to extend a waterfront park already completed further to the east in Port Union, the larger stretch along Lake Ontario will give strollers and cyclists "safe public access to and along the waterfront while respecting the natural and scientific importance of the Scarborough Bluffs."
Called the Scarborough Waterfront Project, it would effectively create a continuous set of trails, beaches and wetland areas from Bluffers to Pickering, and could cost $70 million.
"It could take 14 to 15 years to do all this work," Connie Pinto, TRCA manager for special waterfront projects, said in an interview. "We want to hear from a lot of people and get their ideas."
The first step will be submitting terms of reference for the project’s environmental assessment to Ontario’s environment ministry.
Little known outside Scarborough, shoreline works along most of the future park’s length are already in place, and have continued to attract people even during their construction.
But the cobble beaches and road below the bluffs, which began with the sections below Sylvan Park and Sylvan Avenue east of the Bellamy Ravine, were meant to control erosion, not create a park.
Though many residents choose to walk or cycle the shoreline works between East Point and Bluffers today, "they aren’t up to park standard," and some sections aren’t there at all, Pinto said.
The park requires a more complex study, with at least a year to weigh the options for access from top to bottom of the bluffs, recreational access to the water, trails, amenities, and places for people to congregate and rest.
Last September, Toronto council agreed to use water rates to pay for the study, which Pinto said may be launched at the start of 2015, and cost $3 million over two years.
The authority will soon advertise the first public information meeting, which will be in September, for the terms of reference.
Pinto said the study will give people a better understanding of sand from bluffs and where it goes. Sections of bluffs protected by the shoreworks are still exposed and continue to fall in "slippages," she said, while water has pooled behind them and created shore habitat.
The constructed cobble beaches and breakwater groynes in Port Union and elsewhere along the Scarborough shore have already provided much-needed shelter for fish, Pinto added.
Residents seeking more on the waterfront project can visit trca.on.ca/swp for updates and news on public information sessions.
- Mike Adler
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