That's unfortunate.
If I recall correctly, you previously mentioned that one of the options could have been to route the trail through the Flemingdon golf course rather than go along the east side of the railway? Is there any chance that that could be considered once again? Also, in your opinion, is that the best potential solution? Would love to hear your thoughts on this, your posts in the past on the East Don Trail have been very informative.
Furthermore, to what extent are councilors involved in whether to bring the plan forward or not? I realize that most of the path goes through DMW's ward, but at least part of it is in Bradford's ward, and so he might be more open to discussion?
The golf course is infinitely preferable as a route.
Most of its space is mowed, little of it is of high ecological value in its current state.
But hey, instead of me blathering, how about I copy/paste the relevant portions of the Environmental Assessment?
So first, this is an image showing the routing options for 'phase 3' (well, a narrowed list, there were 9 options originally)
Black is what's under construction now.
Orange (Hillside Trail) is what's currently proposed that would go through some ecologically sensitive areas.
Pink (River Walk) is what we should build.
Here you can see a comparison of the three routes..
Note that River Walk scores best in a number of areas including ease-of-use/accessibility (its mostly flat)
as well as least damage to vegetation and wildlife habitat.
Hillside by comparison does the most damage to the environment but will also be very up/down with some steep'ish grades, not ideal for many trail users.
This is the scoring sheet, positive numbers are good, 0 is neutral, negative numbers are bad.
Note that the route through the golf course scores +9, while the currently proposed Hillside route scores only a 2.
This is just an aerial view of the area today.
The light coloured area on the east side of the river just south of Eglinton is wetland and very good habitat.
The only section of the River walk w/ecological impacts is also just south of Eglinton, but there is no wetland, and section of forest is smaller.
The full E.A. is available here:
EDT_ESR_Full_FINAL_31Oct2016.pdf