The City of Toronto is currently conducting a study to assess the pathways and entrances at Trinity Bellwoods Park. The park, which sits atop the now-buried Garrison Creek at Queen St W at Strachan Ave, has everything from baseball diamonds, tennis courts, and volleyball courts to an artificial ice rink and a wading pool. It’s been a popular spot for walkers and cyclists throughout the years, and so, the city is specifically looking at ways to improve the overall experience of navigating the park.
“Through site analysis and community and stakeholder engagement, the [s]tudy will explore short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to enhance access and circulation while protecting the park’s natural environment,” the city’s website notes, adding that these recommendations will guide future pathway and entrance improvement projects.
The thing is, this development has been classified as an ‘Involve’ project, so the city will work directly with the public to ensure that a broad base of ideas is considered. This means that this multi-stage study will take over a year to complete — again, this is just the study, not the actual project, which is generating a ton of conversation online.
Can someone who’s good at life explain to me why fixing the paths at Bellwoods requires a 12‑month, multi‑stage study?
byu/DragonflyOk9924 intoronto
“The City can’t do anything without having 10 public meetings about it first,” one Reddit user said about the project. “Once the work is finished, some folks will still complain there wasn’t enough consultation.
Another user stated that despite all these preparations, the project will still likely face long delays due to government inefficiency.
“What kills me is when they have the consultations, they do the studies, and then the project grinds to a complete halt for years because they *checks notes* didn’t realize the work would be so hard.”
Others defended the timeline, noting that a project of this size needs an in-depth study because Torontonians care a lot about their parks and want to have input.
“Coming up with a solution that everybody will accept is important and takes time. There are also the technical components of path planning such as considering plant species, signage, access for the disabled, ease of winter/summer maintenance, looking at how the path is graded etc. You can’t just put a path anywhere, it has to actually work and accomplish several objectives at the same time,” a user stated, adding that people don’t understand the complexity of design, and take it for granted. “People on this reddit will oversimplify this and ask why it cannot be done in a month…It is very easy to ignore good design in Toronto because when it is good, it is invisible. Studies like this generate parks that effectively serve the population, and if you don’t think about it at all – it’s because the study actually worked.”
Whether or not people agree with it, the city often focuses on public input and consensus when it comes to high-use public space projects. Here’s a timeline of what to expect in the coming year for Trinity Bellwoods:
Spring to Late 2025: Study development/Community Engagement Phase 1
Right now, the city is putting together a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to provide insights into the park’s current access and circulation issues. Although the CAC won’t act as a decision-making body, it’ll offer suggestions for improvements and review recommendations that will be developed throughout the study.
In May, the city will conduct a public life study to look at real patterns of activity and understand how people access and navigate the park’s pathway network. The city will also begin to gather feedback from community members and the CAC about their experiences with the park’s entrances and pathways, which will help with draft recommendations for access and circulation improvements.
Summer to Fall 2025: Community Engagement Phase 2
This phase includes a community advisory committee meeting, an online survey and a community pop-up event. The city will then share these draft recommendations for park access and circulation improvements with the community and the CAC.
Fall to Late 2025: Community Engagement Phase 3
In this phase, the city will share the refined recommendations for park access/circulation improvements in a report; these recommendations will guide the future pathway and entrance improvement projects, which will be implemented in phases based on available funding after the study is completed.
Winter 2025
The city will hire a design team for the project.
Winter 2026
The access and circulation study should be complete by the winter of 2026; a final report will be available.
