Some Toronto residents are confused why it’s taking the city a year to consult with the public about making enhancements at a popular downtown park.
The City of Toronto has launched the Trinity Bellwoods Park Access and Circulation Study, which aims to improve accessibility and the overall experience of moving through the park, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north.
With a timeline set to stretch throughout 2025 and into the Winter of 2026, the project involves detailed site analysis and multiple rounds of community engagement.
The city will gather feedback in three phases, which include an interactive mapping activity and a dedicated Community Advisory Committee (CAC) set to meet throughout the process.
In the first phase, the city will gather feedback from community members, the CAC and stakeholders about their experiences with the park’s entrances and pathways, along with suggestions for improvements.
During the second phase, the city will present draft recommendations for improvements based on phase one. It will also solicit feedback through an online survey, a community pop-up event and more meetings.
In the third and last phase, the refined recommendations will be shared in a final report gathering improvements categorized by funding, urgency and priority.
Residents interested in shaping the park’s future can apply here to join the CAC until May 2.
While the city has outlined a detailed timeline, the length of the study has caught the attention of some Torontonians.
People online are wondering why this study to improve the park’s paths will take a whole year.
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
One user on Reddit wrote, “The city can’t do anything without having 10 public meetings about it first. Once the work is finished, some folks will still complain there wasn’t enough consultation.”
Others jumped in to defend the city’s approach, emphasizing the value of thorough engagement.
“There’s a project timeline right there on the board. It takes time putting together a team, and coordinating with the public to come up with a solution that benefits the community and the majority of people support. It’s not just about fixing existing paths,” a user commented.
For some users, they noted that observing park usage throughout different seasons is important to the study’s success.
“Unironically, because people use parks very differently in the summer vs the winter.
If you want to make improvements people will actually use, you need to take a year to observe what is (and isn’t) happening,” another user said.
The city echoed these sentiments in an email statement to Now Toronto.
“The Trinity Bellwoods Park Access & Circulation Study timeline is based on anticipated time required to implement site analysis and the development of recommendations, community and stakeholder engagement, refinements to the recommendations resulting from this feedback and preparation of the final report,” the statement read.
Recommendations from this process will guide phased improvements to Trinity Bellwoods, categorized by urgency and budget availability, the city added.
