In 2025 the City finished a master plan for Yellow Creek. What did it say about the closed Heath Crescent staircase, the steep climb up to St. Clair Avenue East or the muddy stretches along the creek? Nothing. The Yellow Creek Geomorphic Systems Master Plan was written to protect Toronto Water infrastructure from erosion. The City's project page says it did not assess trail conditions or recommend trail and amenity improvements.
That gap is now being filled. The Vale of Avoca Ravine Improvements study, run by the City with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, is the first to look at the ravine from the point of view of the people walking through it. It covers how visitors get in, how they move through and what they experience, along with erosion and flooding. Its first public input tool is an online mapping activity and short survey, which closes on October 22, 2026. The study is happening because North Rosedale and nine other residents' associations spent most of a decade pushing for it.
The 2025 Plan Counted Banks, Not Footpaths
The pipe-focused plan still matters to anyone who walks the creek, because it documents what the trail sits on. It found that 1,093 metres of Yellow Creek, or 87 percent, has some form of bank protection. In Reaches 1 and 2, 71 percent of that protection was rated failing and 60 percent had already failed. The plan also noted significant bank erosion near the historic sawmill in Reach 2.
It proposed two projects. The first is a 340-metre stretch around one site, including an 85-metre outfall retrofit flagged as higher priority. The second is a 245-metre project that would require replacing a pedestrian bridge upstream. A bridge replacement is one of the few places where the infrastructure plan touches a walker's route directly. Everything else that affects a dog walk was outside its scope.
What the Trail Study Is Counting
The panels from the October 7 open house at Deer Park Public Library, which 73 community members attended, set out the study area. It is a 17-hectare, 1.5-kilometre reach of Yellow Creek running from Mount Pleasant Cemetery south to Roxborough Drive. The City describes the ravine as linking David A. Balfour Park, Mount Pleasant Cemetery and the Mud Creek and Beltline trail system.
According to the open house panels, twelve access points connect the surrounding neighborhoods to the ravine. The panels name the ones below.
| Access point | How the October 2026 panels describe it |
|---|---|
| David A. Balfour Park Trail at Avoca Avenue | One of the two busiest |
| Mount Pleasant Road at Roxborough Drive | One of the two busiest |
| Mount Pleasant Cemetery | Popular |
| Heath Street East stairs behind Deer Park School | Popular |
| Heath Crescent staircase | Closed because of poor conditions |
| St. Clair Avenue East connection | Closed because of poor conditions |
The panels also list the problems in the terrain itself. St. Clair Avenue sits high above the creek, so routes up to the street are long and steep. Steep paths erode faster and are harder to use, while gentler paths need more space. Some access points are hard to find or poorly connected to the trail system. Rebuilding steep stairs and trails is described as costly and disruptive. The opportunities listed include better entrance markers and wayfinding, improved drainage, wider inclusive access where feasible, and adjusting routes or access types to suit site conditions.
The mapping tool is built to collect exactly this kind of detail. The City says a summary of the feedback will be posted on the project page.
The Neighbors Who Put the Trail on the Agenda
The trail study grew out of a long campaign by residents. CBC reported in November 2017 that five residents' associations were pressing the City to fix the Vale. That article traces the ravine's name to Thomas Moore's poem "The Meeting of the Waters." In a May 2022 letter to the City, the group by then called the Midtown Ravines Group said it had been founded six years earlier and described itself as a nonprofit formed by seven associations.
Today the Midtown Ravines Group is a registered charity with ten member associations: South Eglinton Davisville, Moore Park, Deer Park, Avoca Vale, North Rosedale, Governors Bridge, Summerhill, South Rosedale, Bloor East and ABC. Its co-chairs are John Bossons and Tim Ross.
The campaign's turning point came at City Council in July 2025. Two member motions each allocated $250,000 in Section 37 funds to detailed design of a full ravine restoration. The scope included erosion control, slope stabilization, trail access, native planting and a continuous accessible trail. The motions also directed staff to set up a working group of community members, TRCA and the City. That Project Working Group met on March 30, July 7 and September 1, 2026.
Council then went further. On July 29 and 30, 2026, it authorized Parks and Recreation to accept cash donations from the group above the usual $50,000 delegated limit. It also approved in-kind ecological work, including invasive-species mapping, ecological land classification and baseline biological inventories. Both are subject to City policy and written agreements.
The money involved is large, and the estimates have moved. A South Rosedale Residents' Association newsletter from fall 2025 forecast total costs of $20 to $35 million, with $15 to $25 million coming from private fundraising. CBC reported in July 2025 a group estimate of $35 to $40 million for the restoration and said the final cost was still preliminary.
Members have also been working on the ground. In 2025 there was a guided walk on July 26, co-led with Toronto Field Naturalists, which drew 20 people. On October 26 volunteers did a planting day at Roxborough Parkette with Toronto Nature Stewards. The April 2026 cleanup ran over two weekends. The group reported as many as 50 community members at the April 18 and 19 sessions and an estimated several hundred kilograms of litter collected. In May the group and Toronto Nature Stewards announced a site tour to start planning invasive-plant control in the southern end of David A. Balfour Park and the Vale.
What August 10 Showed About the Southern Trail
The group's own field notes show why trail design and creek engineering can't be separated. During a downpour on August 10, 2026, 38 millimetres of rain fell in under an hour. The creek overtopped its banks in places and briefly flooded the southern creek-side trail. The water drained once a culvert blockage cleared.
The open house panels describe the underlying conditions. Creek banks are eroding, older erosion-control structures are failing and stormwater outlets are damaged. Problem sites the panels name include a scour hole at a pedestrian bridge, creek erosion at the foot of a slope and valley-wall erosion at Old Mill. The panels also point to trail runoff hazards, wet areas, gaps in the route and few places to cross the creek. The engineering options under consideration include vortex rock weirs, vegetated rock buttresses, pools and riffles, and armourstone walls and drop structures. Each of these would shape where a future trail can go, which is why the study looks at the creek and the path together.
What Is Fixed and What Is Still Open
One piece of work is already scheduled and will change the ravine before any wider design is chosen. TRCA's Yellow Creek erosion control, slope stabilization and Heath Crescent staircase project responds to slope failure reported after the July 8, 2013 storm and to failing bank protection along the creek. It covers stabilization below Heath Crescent and Heath Street East, channel erosion control and a replacement staircase. TRCA's latest design uses a rubble-fill buttress, channel realignment and armourstone bank protection. An earlier soil-nailing option was dropped for feasibility reasons.
The schedule, as it currently stands:
- October 1 to 22, 2026. The online mapping activity and survey are open.
- Fall and winter 2026. Crews may be on site collecting technical data.
- Early 2027. TRCA starts the Heath Crescent slope, stair and channel works, with completion estimated for summer 2028.
- Spring 2027. Engagement Phase 2 presents design options through an open house and an online survey.
- Summer 2027. Engagement Phase 3 shares the preferred design before detailed design begins.
- 2028 onward. Construction across the wider ravine, pending funding. The City notes that the timeline may change.
The panels set out what the TRCA works will mean on the ground. Some areas of the ravine will be closed during construction, though work will be staged where possible to keep closures to a minimum. Crews will need to build an access road, remove trees and cross the creek. The David A. Balfour Park Trail will serve as the construction route for equipment but will stay open to the public outside work hours.
So the Heath Crescent stairs have a funded fix on a schedule. The rest of the ravine does not yet. The St. Clair Avenue East connection, the wet sections, the creek crossings and the signage at hard-to-find entrances will all depend on the design options presented in spring 2027. The first input into those options is the mapping activity that closes on October 22.
If your property backs onto Yellow Creek or sits near the Roxborough Drive or Heath Crescent entrances, a construction schedule running from early 2027 to summer 2028 can affect a renovation plan or the timing of a sale. Taylor Townley can take you through how that schedule bears on your property. Request a Confidential Consultation.
