New mountain bike park coming to High Park
Posted June 12, 2012 7:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new off-road bike park will be coming to High Park after an existing trail was cordoned off last year.
The park, which is geared towards mountain bikers and BMX riders, will include a skills trail, pumptracks, a wide variety of jump lines and a large drop and wall ride.
“It’s an Olympic sport and we need to provide appropriate facilities,” Garth Armour, supervisor of natural environment and community programs in the city’s forestry branch, told CityNews.ca.
“These activities have been going on in High Park for some time, with users building their own spontaneous parks. This new park takes pressure off ecologically-sensitive areas.”
The City of Toronto has commissioned British Columbia’s Jay Hoots, who has designed parks all over North America, to build the new facility.
The Sunnyside bike park will be located on an existing parking lot north of Lake Shore Boulevard West, between Colborne Lodge Drive and Ellis Avenue. Construction is expected to begin in September and Armour said they hope to be finished by the end of the year.
Last year, Mohawk protesters camped out at section of High Park known as Snake or Serpent Mound. They claimed the area was the site of an ancient burial ground and that the area was being “desecrated” by cyclists.
Toronto officials say a study, approved by the province, was conducted a couple of years ago that found “no archaeological significance” and no human remains.
The city later blocked off the area to bikers, claiming they were damaging a sensitive ecological area that houses the trillium flower.
The new High Park bike area will join similar skills parks, including one in Earlscourt Park, and others in Mississauga, Markham and Kitchener.
The city’s Park, Forestry and Recreation department will hold an open house about the new bike area on June 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at 3 Ellis Ave.
With files from Shawne McKeown
