Harrison Estates Park is ending up with "less park, more trail" because walkers and cyclists are widening the path, residents were told at a meeting this week.
The City of Toronto is proposing to spend $55,000 on an asphalt trail through the park above the Scarborough Bluffs.Harrison Estates' mulch-and-earth trail is getting more use than it can handle and in wet conditions people avoid muddy spots, so the trail has spread to more than twice its original 3.5-metre width in some spots, said Leslie Coates of the city's parks department.This is damaging roots of nearby trees, Coates said Wednesday, Feb. 1, night at Birchmount Community Centre.Harrison Estates, between Springbank Avenue to Lakehurst Crescent south of Kingston Road, is part of the city's waterfront trail, and its mulch trail is "difficult" for some people, she said. Coates also said the city wants to increase the diversity of trees at Harrison Estates: more than half of the park's 82 trees are Norway Maples, which aren't a native species or colourful in fall.The city has identified nine tree species it wants to plant in the park, though no dollar amount for the plantings has been set.City staff say they want feedback from residents on the project (more information is at www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/swtrails) by Feb. 15, so it can be considered for a report to a Toronto Council committee next month.Harrison Estates is one of three proposals for trail improvements in Scarborough sidelined last summer after opposition from residents, particularly those concerned about an upper section of Bluffers Park known as Chine Meadow.But in contrast to a meeting on Bluffers that drew more than 100 residents last week, the Harrison Estates meeting attracted barely more than a dozen, with some coming to ask questions about the Bluffers plan instead.A meeting on the proposal for the third trail section, through Grayabbey Park from Gray Abbey Drive to Guildwood Parkway, is expected to be scheduled soon.