What We Heard Report

Accessibility, one of the project's main objectives, was frequently mentioned by those who provided Parks Canada with feedback. People highlighted the importance of ensuring that access to the beach and marsh area is safe and inclusive and that all visitors have the opportunity to navigate within the area. Park users recommended that universal design (designing something to be as functional as possible for as many people as possible) be at the core of each project element, in an effort for all people, regardless of age, ability or other factors, to have a positive park experience.

People commended the project for its goal of making the green space accessible to people in the GTA">, who benefit mentally and physically from visiting the area. For many, including hikers, the proposed trail with boardwalk components is crucial to completing the park's trail system and linking Lake Ontario and the Oak Ridges Moraine – a longstanding goal of community partners and a key element of the Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan.

Park users echoed Parks Canada's safety concerns regarding accessing the beach from other areas in and outside of the park, whereby visitors often have to cross and travel along roadways without the aid of signalized crossings or sidewalks. The proposed trail with boardwalk components will mean that visitors no longer need to leave the park to transit between the Mast Trail and the beach, and Parks Canada is working with the City of Toronto about resolving parking and traffic issues in order to create safe access to the entrance of the Rouge Beach Day Use Area.

Visitors who use mobility devices, such as wheelchairs, face barriers to accessing the beach and marsh areas safely and comfortably. Park users expressed support for a trail with boardwalk and handrail components that is wheelchair accessible, allowing all visitors to see and experience more of the park. The proposed improvements, including upgrades to the beach's washroom facilities and paddling access points, will be AODA"> compliant (i.e. will meet or exceed standards from the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act). In the engagement workshops, there were comments that were not in support of making the area accessible (e.g. with regards to the width of the boardwalk which, while it improves accessibility, increases the footprint).

The hill leading to the beach and marsh has a steep slope and is used by cars, bikes, pedestrians and more, causing conflicts in the shared space. As part of the project, Parks Canada is proposing to improve infrastructure that will enable visitors to safely access the marsh and beach from the upper parking lot. This would be achieved by reducing the grade to make it less steep and more universally accessible.

Given the distance from the upper parking lot to the beach and proposed boardwalk, there are concerns that the re-naturalization of the lower parking lot could make it more difficult for people to access the area. Many workshop participants shared that the lower parking lot broadens access to the beach and marsh to visitors with families, seniors, and diverse abilities who could not walk for a longer distance. Conversely, others expressed optimism that the entire marsh experience would in the future begin at the top of the hill and upper parking lot and, via a raised pedestrian boardwalk, users would gain a great deal of accessible space previously reserved for vehicles or inaccessible due to steep road grades.

Also, park users who commute through the area expressed hopes that access along the Waterfront Trail and on the pedestrian bridge is not negatively impacted for extended periods of time during the construction phase, although others acknowledged and understood that this likely would not be possible during certain periods of construction for visitor safety reasons.

Some locals questioned Parks Canada's intentions to make the area fully accessible for all by formalizing a single trail and ensuring its grades, surfaces and substrates are AODA"> compliant. Prevailing sentiment from some local residents was that prioritizing and maintaining local access and privacy on informal trails was of greater importance than fostering accessibility opportunities for other park visitors by making some of these informal trails accessible.

Many members of the public, including people with accessibility challenges, also provided optimism that Parks Canada could provide an accessible trail connection between the lake and the campground to improve upon the current situation where some visitors are unable to use any of the 13.5 kilometres of informal and inaccessible trails that dot the marsh and ravine area landscape. Conversely, some members of the local community, particularly those backing onto the ravine, wished for Parks Canada to leave the current informal trails alone and not apply any accessibility upgrades, noting that these trails are currently used primarily by local residents, who desire to keep it that way.

Park users appreciate how a mix of programming in a park space fosters opportunities to gather. Workshop participants shared their excitement about park activities in the beach and marsh area, such as playing games, taking part in virtual or self-guided plant and wildlife tours, learning about Indigenous cultures and history, ice skating and meeting with friends and family to experience and enjoy the area.

One of the biggest concerns heard was that Parks Canada will struggle to manage visitation in the Rouge Beach area in its current state, noting that when these lands transferred to Parks Canada for inclusion in Rouge National Urban Park in 2019, Parks Canada inherited an array of aging or poorly designed infrastructure. People cited a number of problematic and longstanding visitor behaviours (illegal parking, littering, partying, campfires, fireworks), poor infrastructure (washroom facilities, parking spaces, flooding issues) and visitors' conflicting activities (from passive to active). There are worries that the project's proposed improvements will lead to an increase in visitation that is unsustainable by negatively impacting: the ecology of the area (including to species at risk), the experience of park users and local residents unaccustomed to crowds, and the quality of life of the surrounding communities. Parks Canada often heard about a strong "us versus them" conflict – real and perceived – that exists between locals that "live here" and visitors that "only visit" on weekends. There is a very strong perception among many locals that the area belongs to them and that Parks Canada is responsible for facilitating and encouraging destructive levels of visitation to the area – not taking into account that the COVID-19 pandemic and local stay-at-home orders have driven increased usage of parks, greenspaces and protected areas across the country and around the world.

Conversely, many members of the public expressed a strong desire for Parks Canada to move forward with these planned improvements to specifically address such concerns by replacing aging or failing infrastructure and improving the environmental design of the area to more sustainably and responsibly manage visitor use in the area. Many feel that Parks Canada has an obligation to advance these improvements to help safeguard the area from further ecological degradation, citing issues such as the informal trails, poorly designed parking lots and lack of flooding and erosion controls as exacerbating visitor management issues. The prevailing sentiment here is that improved environmental design coupled with a reduced human footprint and ecological restoration, along with integrated and inter-jurisdictional approaches to traffic management, will all help Parks Canada to improve the situation and more sustainably manage this area of the park.

Building on this sentiment, both project supporters and those less supportive of the project agreed that in addition to any infrastructure upgrades, Parks Canada should continue and redouble its efforts to address unwanted behaviours through education, stewardship, compliance and enforcement. To this end, measures that Parks Canada has implemented to better manage the area are generally universally supported, including increased beach and community clean-up events; the creation of a local Parks Canada beach compliance team; increased Parks Canada law enforcement presence; encouraging use of public and active transit (and not cars) to access the area; discouraging visitation during peak hours; and increased collaboration with Toronto and Pickering parking enforcement units to manage and prevent illegal street parking on both sides of the river on lands outside of Parks Canada's jurisdiction.

There are divergent perspectives on how space in the beach and marsh area of the park should be shared by humans, animals and plants. Park visitors frequent the beach and marsh for activities such as hiking, biking, canoeing and kayaking, birdwatching, swimming, skating and gathering with friends and family. They appreciate the multi-use functionality of the park, even if they don't participate in all the activities.

Participants discussed uses of the beach and marsh area that may conflict. For example, park users are concerned about fishing in the area, specifically litter and uncontrolled access. It was noted that fishing takes place mostly in the evenings and weekends, and this can come with an increase in garbage during these times, and disruption to other people using the area and wildlife during their most active times of day. It was also noted that fireworks are sometimes set off in the late night and early morning, which can disturb local residents.

Feedback provided to address fishing-related issues include limiting fishing to specific areas, restricting fishing from the boardwalk and bridges, and improving the accessibility of waste receptacles and the education of people who fish in the area. Although licensed fishing is a legally permitted park activity, many members of the public also perceive it to be a non-compatible and undesirable activity for a protected area like the Rouge. A very small number of people asked Parks Canada to completely ban fishing in the area.

Parks Canada heard suggestions for a bike lane to be added from the upper parking lot to the proposed pedestrian plaza (or a clear demarcation of cycling/pedestrian trail lanes), as well as a separate bridge built between Scarborough and Pickering at the mouth of the Rouge River to separate user types. According to park users, these changes would improve the safety of pedestrians, people using mobility devices and cyclists.

Local residents expressed concerns about maintaining neighbourhood access to the Rouge Valley on the more than 13.5 kilometres of unofficial and unmanaged trails in the area. Although outside of the project scope, some local Scarborough residents expressed a desire for a community-only canoe and kayak launch off Island Road. Owners of ravine properties frequently cited concerns about access, safety, privacy, trespassing and property value, which were addressed in the project's Frequently Asked Questions.

The proposed up-to-2.4-kilometre formalized trail with handrail and boardwalk components elicited questions about its design, construction materials and methods, impact on wetland and riparian habitat and wildlife movement, as well as how it will accommodate park visitors and its accessibility objectives. In particular, the public provided divergent perspectives on whether or not formalizing a single trail would enhance park users' experiences and/or support the natural environment.

Supporters of a formalized trail with handrail and boardwalk components felt strongly that it would be an excellent way to protect and restore an ecologically sensitive area, help create a desired contiguous trail system throughout the park, restrict inappropriate activities and allow accessible connections from Rouge Beach and the local waterfront trail. Supporters of this option felt that the current use of the area is under significant ecological risk due to systemic uncontrolled access and the large human footprint that is contributing to the degradation of the area's natural environment through trampling, erosion, contamination, poaching and a range of ecological edge effects.

Some people not in favour of a formalized trail voiced strong perspectives on this, particularly people living adjacent to the ravine, commenting that a trail in the marsh would result in additional noise and disturbance to park neighbours and ravine properties; that the park and its amenities do not have capacity to support more visitors to such a trail, and that the process of formalizing the trail (both construction and maintenance impacts; and the existence of the trail itself) will harm plants and animals in the area with added litter, noise pollution and trampling of sensitive wildlife habitat.

Some comments stated with conviction that the construction and maintenance of the boardwalk would be detrimental to the environment; however, scientific evidence of this was not provided. Such considerations will be fully assessed through the Detailed Impact Assessment (DIA), which will determine impacts and mitigation/compensation measures to prevent ecological harm or provide overall benefit to the project.

During the engagement phase, the public provided feedback and ideas on what contributes to a desirable trail experience: designated areas for specific uses, such as walking, biking and off-leash dog walking, to minimize use conflicts; lookout points; and interpretive signage.

Among the people in favour of a formalized trail, public and community support was the strongest for the middle route (Option 1), which follows the footprint of the Rouge River and makes use of largely pre-existing informal trail network. Residents on the park borders were strongly opposed to the trail routes that would run closest to their properties (Options 2 and 3). Some commenters noted that Parks Canada should have included a "No Trail" option in the feasibility study (such an option will be considered in the DIA). Some park visitors who do not support a formalized trail expressed doubt regarding Parks Canada's claims that the current usage and visitor layout of the Rouge Beach and Marsh area of Rouge National Urban Park is unsustainable ecologically and that something must be done to protect this important area of the park.

Other recommendations included designing a trail wide enough to accommodate mobility devices, increasing Parks Canada's monitoring of the trails, forbidding access at night, and minimizing winter and other negative weather impacts to the boardwalk components. Some have also suggested that a formalized trail with handrail and boardwalk components should be pedestrian only, with cyclists required to walk their bicycles.

Park users generally feel that upgrades to facilities in the beach and marsh area are essential to increasing the overall access to and welcoming feeling of the area. The overriding public sentiment is that the washroom facilities at the beach are in dire need of upgrades or replacement. Some visitors said they avoided the washroom: it is too often locked, is unpleasant – the site of litter and vandalism – and frequently in need of maintenance. Some park users expressed a desire for both the washroom and canoe/kayak clubhouse facilities to be winterized and there is a desire for canoe/kayak storage and rental opportunities for residents and visitors.

Feedback also included a desire for additional and improved signage and wayfinding tools, which identify the distance to the washroom location and canoe/kayak launch locations. Park users also feel it is important to improve signage to include information on ecological protection. Furthermore, a number of comments expressed concerns about the distance visitors had to travel from the parking lot and other sites in the park to the washroom.

In general, participants want to see more available stalls within the beach washroom. Many want to ensure the washroom is accessible all year round and is regularly maintained. Workshop attendees indicated that they would appreciate a number of amenities in and around the washroom such as self-flushing toilets and time-limiting sinks (to limit water use), a water bottle filling station, outdoor showers, hand and foot washing stations and cell phone charging access.

A number of recommendations were made to accommodate a diversity of users, such as families and people with accessibility needs. Showers that accommodate families and people with diverse abilities, changing tables that have a hydraulic lift to accommodate adults, sinks and washroom facilities built at children's heights as well as access ramps at washroom doors.

Many people expressed a preference for restoring park ecosystems even if that means placing constraints on how people use the park for activities, like paddling or hiking, or precluding the development of new infrastructure. Others took issue with elements of ecological restoration, including the re-naturalization of the lower parking lot and the addition of the pedestrian plaza due to their perceived restrictions on parking and access to the area.

Some people expressed concern about how project construction activities could negatively impact plants and wildlife habitat and movement. Some commenters expressed a desire to know the ecological impacts and mitigations for each option. These elements are addressed in the DIA.

As indicated in the project website's Frequently Asked Questions, the project concept includes considerable ecological restoration work within the beach and surrounding marsh area, such as broad-scale invasive species management, restoration and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat through trees and shrub planting, improving water quality, stabilization of marsh banks, shoreline grooming and garbage reduction, increased protections for species at risk, increased ecological monitoring efforts, and the addition of wildlife-proof waste management.

Flooding impacts have been factored into Parks Canada's project plans. The pedestrian plaza – formerly the lower parking lot – will be raised to accommodate potential rising of water levels, and the boardwalk height will be based on floodplain modelling to ensure the trail would clear the 100-year floodplain level. In addition, the boardwalk components would be further elevated in certain areas of the trail to facilitate the movement of wildlife and aquatic species throughout the ravine and valley. All of these elements are addressed in detail in the DIA.

Rouge National Urban Park's beach and marsh area is stewarded by neighbours and visitors, many of whom have spent many years in the area and have a connection with the land that pre-dates the park itself. Stewardship groups feel a sense of ownership of the park, and care for it as though it was their own home; Parks Canada intends to continue to foster and nurture these local organic connections to the area. Park users would like more opportunities to learn about park ecosystems and how to be stewards of the park. They seek opportunities to learn about the Indigenous history of the area and how to help protect plants and animals and keep the park free of litter.

Park users indicated that the proposed boardwalk would foster better public understanding of the land and improve the level of stewardship and respect for the park. People wrote that given the park's urban location, it is an excellent venue for outdoor educational learning, stewardship and appreciation of nature, and that Parks Canada has a responsibility to ensure young Canadians and newcomers to Canada are afforded with opportunities to learn about Canada's environment and history.

Many park users were appreciative that Parks Canada was planning to assess the project using a Detailed Impact Assessment (DIA) – the highest standard of Parks Canada environmental impact assessment in the country – and that members of the public would have additional opportunities to comment on the project once the DIA is posted on the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry. A separate and dedicated public comment period will follow during which comments about the DIA can be submitted.

There was some confusion during the engagement process over the DIA process itself (e.g. when is a DIA necessary and why does the DIA come after the project concept). To this end, Parks Canada clarified throughout the engagement period that it felt it was appropriate to undertake a DIA for this project given the sensitive environments in and around this area of the park and given the high level of public interest, to ensure there are multiple avenues for the public to provide feedback. With regards to the sequencing of the concept engagement (February 1, 2020 to May 1, 2021) followed by the release of the DIA, this is considered standard operating procedure, in that normally projects begin at the conceptual level and then move to more detailed considerations and assessment. In terms of Parks Canada's work and public engagement on this project, the project sequence will follow this pathway:

1. Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan – public engagement period (2014-2019)
2. Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan – released to the public (2019)
3. Rouge Beach Improvements Project Feasibility Study – completed (2020)
4. Rouge Beach Improvements Project – public engagement on concept (Feb 2020-May 2021)
5. Rouge Beach Improvements Project – What We Heard Report (early 2022)
6. Detailed Impact Assessment – released for public comment (early 2022)

Some park users requested that a "no project" option be on the table as part of the DIA (note that this option is considered and assessed as part of the forthcoming DIA). Further recommendations included the need for an environmental impact assessment that analyzes the local community's capacity to manage an increase in the volume of visitors and cars driving and parking on its streets.

For clarity, it is important to note that the Parks Canada impact assessment process has been developed to fulfil legal obligations under the federal Impact Assessment Act, as well as other legal and mandated obligations to protect and present Canada's natural and cultural heritage. Projects and activities with the greatest potential to result in adverse impacts to important natural or cultural resources are assigned to an in-depth but focused level of analysis through the impact assessment pathway. DIAs support decision-making by providing appropriate and rigorous analysis based on sound science, Indigenous knowledge and Parks Canada policy.

Parking management around the Rouge Beach Day Use Area is one of the biggest concerns surrounding the project. Park users, including local area residents and those accessing Rouge National Urban Park by vehicle, want to ensure there is sufficient parking to handle not only current levels of visitation, but also potential increased visitation in the future.

At present, the sentiment is that there is insufficient parking, particularly near the beach. The overflow of vehicles during peak times, particularly summer weekends (though this trend is evolving beyond peak summer periods) causes congestion and presents risks to residents on roads near the day use area. Local residents are concerned that increased visitation without suitable parking will continue a trend of illegal parking and risks on residential streets. To this end, the public is encouraging Parks Canada to continue to work very closely with the City of Toronto and City of Pickering, along with corresponding police and parking enforcement services, to address illegal street parking outside of Parks Canada's jurisdiction. Residents acknowledge that although these roads are outside of Parks Canada's jurisdiction, Parks Canada's compliance and law enforcement teams should continue to work closely with municipalities to ensure visitors to the Rouge Beach area avoid illegal street parking, and Parks Canada should continue to direct people away from parking in these places.

Other recommendations to alleviate parking concerns include introducing paid parking in the park, and asking Parks Canada to consider operating a shuttle bus from the Rouge Hills GO station on weekends to Rouge Beach.

Local residents and community organizations, including the West Rouge Community Association, are also asking Parks Canada to continue to work with local municipalities to consider opportunities to add supplemental parking capacity imDIAtely adjacent to the park to compliment Parks Canada's proposed redesign and expansion of the upper parking lot at the intersection of Rouge Hills Drive and Lawrence Avenue. If such plans were to move ahead, local residents expect to be engaged on and influence any such plans, including design options, the number of new parking spots, safety considerations and aesthetics.

Many locals were supportive of Parks Canada's desire to discourage and reduce visitation by vehicle to the Rouge Beach area, although some questioned how this could be achieved. To this end, residents did broadly support Parks Canada's commitment to avoid promoting the Rouge Beach area as a car-based destination and instead to strongly encourage active (walking/cycling) and public (TTC">, Durham Regional Transit (DRT) and GO Train) transportation as the primary means of visiting the beach area.

Accessibility remains a concern for the lower lot and there were many comments in favour of maintaining parking exclusively for people with mobility challenges. There were also comments in opposition to the plan to decommission the lower parking level. Due to the distance between the upper parking lot and the beach, eliminating the lower lot would make the beach area inaccessible for some people. Additionally, paddlers wish to access the lower lot in order to drop off their kayak or canoe, arguing that it is time-consuming and difficult to transport watercraft from the upper lot to the water. A proposed solution identified is to ensure that there is an accessible boat launch near the upper lot to cut down on the distance to the pedestrian plaza. A second launch point would also exist where the river meets the marsh.

Park visitors are concerned about the marsh restoration and prefer to see a reduced footprint in the pedestrian plaza, covering less surface area than the current parking lot. People would also like to see more seating added to the plaza – covered, to protect from rain, sun and other elements – as well as consideration given to the "winterization" of new infrastructure, to better support popular winter activities such as winter hiking and ice skating.

There is no consensus on whether or not the plaza will adequately serve all park users. Instead, there were various perspective on the pedestrian plaza at multiple public workshops, with some participants expressing concerns about the plaza as well as its potential uses. The conflicting wants and needs among different types of users (cyclists, pedestrians, fishers, people with mobility devices) and overcrowding were flagged as key issues for the plaza. Despite concerns about the plaza, participants proposed many ways it could be used, suggesting numerous amenities, infrastructure and programming options, including:

• Infrastructure to minimize user conflict, such as dedicated fishing areas, bike lanes and signage or barriers to delineate space for pedestrians and other users;
• Amenities for cyclists, including lockable, visible temporary storage, a repair station and an air pump;
• Increased warden and other Parks Canada staff presence.

Workshop attendees emphasized the importance of educational and stewardship opportunities, and a strong Parks Canada visual presence in the plaza and beach areas: signage and guided tours to highlight plants and animals, Indigenous history, and the impacts of climate change, along with increased programming to encourage waterfront cleanups.

There is both support for and concerns about permitting vendors to operate in the proposed pedestrian plaza. Some workshop participants thought a small or limited number of vendors could help enhance visitor experience and safety, by providing a local and healthy food source. Opponents to this idea cautioned that it would become problematic, with the greatest concerns centred on litter and the commercialization of public space.

Finally, some members of the public requested that Parks Canada consider adding rental services for kayaks and canoes to the pedestrian plaza or along the Waterfront Trail, to provide learning and experiential opportunities for people who do not own their own equipment.