Ontario's newest provincial park, Uxbridge Urban, opens July 1 - Action News
Home WebMail Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 05:07 AM | Calgary | 0.6°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Toronto

Ontario's newest provincial park, Uxbridge Urban, opens July 1

The new park opens to the public on a limited basis as of July 1. Here's a sneak peek of what it looks like.

New park opens for limited use July 1

Limited access to new provincial park in Uxbridge starts July 1

2 months ago
Duration 2:48
The newly established Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park will be open to the public on a limited basis as of July 1. Haydn Watters got an early access tour of the site to learn more about the new park and its trails.

It's not often Ontario gets a new provincial park.

But over the past 15 months, Ontario Parks have scrambled to open Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park, about 70 kilometres northeast of Toronto. It will be the province's first urban provincial park, should a recentprivate member's bill pass.

"We're so close to rapidly growing areas where green space is so important to protect," says Charlene Coulter, a program manager with Ontario Parks who recently took CBCfor a tour.

A black gate opens up to a path, green foliage and tall trees leading into the new Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park.
The property used to be owned by the Tanenbaum family. The gates and trails from this era remain. (Laura Pedersen/CBC)

The park is made up of six parcels of land, measuring 526 hectares.

"It's not a traditional provincial park where people think of one large land mass. They will be multiple disconnected parcels, but connected through trails," said Coulter.

The propertyused to be owned by businessman Joey Tanenbaum. He wanted to build a mega housing development but faced much opposition from locals. Instead, he swapped the land with the province for property in Pickering.

Walking through the park, you can spotsigns of its previous use: paths made of interlock bricks snake throughout, and a large woodendock overlooks a small wetland area. Large metal gates open into the park. The gatesread Gad Eden, the name the Tanenbaumsonce gave theproperty.

A large tree with a tree limb snapped off
One of the park's highlights is this massive tree, which lost a limb a few weeks ago. (Laura Pedersen/CBC)

"We actually haven't done a whole lot," says Coulter. "This is how the property was, which was great because we could just basically open it up."

Coulter says locals have been trying to protect the land for 20 years.Public access starts July 1, although it will be limited at first there arehiking trails for day-use anda few parking spots.

Coulter says Ontario Parks is currently putting togethera park management plan to figure out what the future will look like, including expansion.

LISTEN | Taking a tour of the province's newest provincial park:
Its not very often Ontario opens a new provincial park. But there's a new one called Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park, opening Canada Day. Reporter Haydn Watters went for a sneak peek.

With files from Laura Pedersen