Recently installed signs at Col. Samuel Smith Park alert users to upcoming three-year rock rehabilitation project. Photo by Janet McAndrew.
More than 500 nature lovers have signed a petition to halt, or for the reconsideration, of a massive but badly-needed shoreline maintenance work at Colonel Sam Smith Park.
The major project by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) will begin in October and last for three years.
Popular bike and walking paths in the park will be fenced off from the public until 2027 so large trucks can transport boulders to the job site.
Most of the work will address displaced stones of shoreline structures and bank erosion close to shoreline trails which can pose a potential hazard to park visitors and infrastructure, officials said. The work will help curb floods and water level rise.
Park users fear damage to wildlife and vegetation from large truck transporting boulders to job site.
Those against the project said the proposed construction access route ‘cuts right through the park, fencing in and closing popular paths, blocking the Waterfront Trail, and restricting public access to much of the eastern side of the park.’
“The proposed route poses a significant threat to many trees, some more than a century old,” according to the online petition. “It will be disruptive to the abundant wildlife that visits or resides in the park, including the sensitive pond area.”
Some of the large rocks that have to be replaced or rehabilitated on the shores of Lake Ontario.
The group said heavy trucks will ‘use the road by the Gatehouse and then turn onto the path just west of 13th Street, down by the pond to Whimbrel Point. ‘
The petition is asking the TRCA to change or reconsider the truck route through the park to prevent damage to nature or wildlife. They are also seeking a public meeting on the issue.
“It is urgent that the access route is reviewed ASAP so that this poor choice doesn’t commit the park and park users to three or more years of park restriction and disruption,” the petition state.
The TRCA in a release said major maintenance work will be along the outer shoreline of the park’s waterfront extension.
“Maintenance of several erosion control structures has become necessary due to severe weather events and wave action that poses a potential hazard to park lands and shoreline trail,” according to the Authority.
Some residents took to social media to express anger over the reduced use of the bike and popular walking trails.
Whimbrel Point shown here is a popular spot as bird watchers assemble to watch the birds yearly.
The chosen corridor will be fenced off and unusable by the public for three years, Barbara McAndrew posted.
She said the bike route can only be used after 4:00 p.m. during the week and on weekends.
“For those who use this route, it will be an inconvenient to say the least,” she said.
Barbara Zylski was concerned about the huge boulders piled up on the shore at the bottom of Second Street and Prince of Wales Park.
“Total overkill if you ask me,” she wrote. “Waste of taxpayer’s money.”
The park is popular for Whimbrel Point, which for up to five days a year, Whimbrels use this area as a resting point on their migration to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. The park hosts a “Whimbrel Watch” every year to celebrate their return to Whimbrel Point.