Parks & Ravines

A potential bright spot. In September 2025, the City launched a two-stage international design competition for the new Ramsden Park Community Recreation Centre. This marked the first City of Toronto design competition held for a community recreation centre since 1987. Stage 1 asked applicants for a RFSQ (Request for Supplier Qualifications). Based on their qualifications, the City invited the top five teams to advance to Stage 2 which will involve an RFP (Request For Proposal). ,/p>

St. Clair Staircase: The Toronto Region Conservation Authority Request for Proposals to procure a geotechnical consultant to conduct slope stability assessments and conceptual design of the staircase has been drafted and will be released for bidding shortly.

As we worry about some of the issues facing the neighbourhood, it’s great to learn that the new park at 15 Delisle is progressing well.

Anticipated Project Timeline

• Winter 2026: Issue tender documents and retain a contractor
• Spring 2026: Construction Starts on the Park
• Fall 2026: Construction is completed, and the park opens to the public

A project to restore the long-closed access to the ravine at St. Clair and Avoca is being initiated! A big hooray to that. Phase 1 will be a geotechnical investigation informing the feasibility and positioning of the staircase and Phase 2 will be a design-build contract to expedite implementation.

If you want to find out what’s going on with our local ravines, head on over to the two new sites launched by the Midtown Ravines Group, a confederation of ten residents’ associations seeking to revitalize the ravines in Toronto’s midtown core.

Digital Waters is a Toronto-based non-profit developing affordable, made-in-Canada water monitoring technology to better understand and protect our local waterways. We were inspired by Toronto’s ravines. They are amazing veins of nature that stretch across town, always lush and green in the summers and the perfect way to take a break from life. But nothing lives in the waters that carve out Toronto’s ravines.

On July 24, 2025, City Council unanimously passed a motion to provide $1.5M in funding for a new design and plan for the Vale of Avoca to address its accelerating erosion, its trail network and accesses and for ongoing maintenance.