North Maple Regional Park: An Incredible Journey

North Maple Regional Park is considered the best work of Vaughan. It is a park plan that is a building on 364 hectares. The thing that is interesting about this place is that it used to be a dump site and the biggest one in Canada.

But now it is under construction and going to be a world-class Park with the help of the residents and Vaughan. The plan for this park is to create green space, other residential areas, environment work, and facilities for the residential people and travelers.

The story of this turn-up from a dump cited to the beautiful north maple regional park is an interesting one and is an inspiration for all the people living in poor conditions and all the municipality that wants to transform a place into a beautiful vibrant space.

1. History of North Maple Regional Park Pavilion

The name of this dump site used to be the Kelly Valley landfill. That is present at Keele Street. This dumpsite was operated by the Toronto municipality, and it was the main dumping site. It was the landfill area of Toronto from 1983 to 2002. In 1985 this place got its gas collection system.

So that people can stay odor-free and emission-free in the area. This former landfill area is now north maple regional park after a lot of construction and hard work. But later they made a power generation station in 1994 out of which about 20,000 homes got their electricity.

This dumpsite was originally present in a rural area. but with the development in Canada and the surrounding areas, people started living there. And they’ve formed a new city called Vaughan City after of years. It becomes a pile of waste material and almost 30 million tons were accumulated over that place. And that made it hard to survive in that area of the constant efforts of residents and the Council. The place finally stopped dumping the waste material in that location.

2. What is Vaughan Cares?

Vaughan Care is a committee of association that works for environmental safety it is established as a group of environmental people and community activists. And residents that live in Vaughan City want to close the Kelly Valley landfill and live in a proper environment. The main aim was to shut down this site and take care of the don river and the health of the vegan residents who are living in these inhumane conditions.

The special thing about Vaughan Care is that they created mass exposure to this issue. They started to reach out to people through group discussions, campaigns, and meetings at the dumpsites.  That’s how people get to know about the issue and raised their concerns. Then from 1996 to 2000 continue to fight for the shutdown of this landfill and the enforcement of the new environmental policies continued.  And finally, it ended on December 31st, 2002. And the dumping on the site was finally shut down.

The credit goes to Vaughan Care and thousands of residents who are living in Vaughan City who continue to work for the land in that area and especially in the north Maple regional park area. After chatting down the landfill site started making an effort on that place to make it a signature park.

3. The Development of North Maple Regional Park

Initially, they wanted to call this dump site the “Maple Valley plan” but that later shifted to the north Maple regional park in 2003 and they took care of the 200-acre site which was previously known as the Avondale lands.

For the next 10 years, Vaughan City worked on getting the required land and plan for the park’s future in the year 2013. By the public voting, and after careful consideration, they decided to create a destination Park that is full of culture and Recreation and park development.

Then the Vaughan Council expanded the park’s infrastructure planning even further from those acres. Now it acquired another 700 acres of land including the Keeley and the Township landfill site now the total land under the Council is 900 acres the goal is to create a beautiful Park that is becoming a Legacy of this place and the future generation can enjoy being here in this area.

The North Maple regional park is currently present on the Oakridge mourn and the headwater of the Don Rivers. The constant effort of the Council and the residents made this Park a vision for environmental development and its significance in the development of the whole area and the current future of Maple Park.

The best thing about this whole journey is in 2018 almost 80 hectares of the park are now available for the public with beautiful facilities like FIFA-certified artificial soccer field working, parking lot soccer fields, artificial turf soccer fields, hiking trails Park Pavilion, washroom change rooms, water fountain, picnic areas, oak ridges, and a parking area. This is an unbelievable development by seeing the history of this place from the Adam site to this extraordinarily beautiful place.

In recent years like in 2021 the city again got its funding from the government that can help in expanding the park and improve accessibility and connection of the park that can upgrade it and can add more trees and sitting areas. This work was also completed in November 2022.

3.1. Future Planning

Right now, the city is working on the phase 2 development of Maple Park. And out of the 138 acres of the site, 52 hectare is under these new facilities. At this moment to the works on the following facilities.

The site grading stormwater management, picnic areas, underground services, environmental restoration per nature, family recreation areas for picnic playground sitting areas, asphalt parking area, special event area, cricket field built-in spectator seating, and national soccer training centers, are the future possibilities.

This development was possible because of the city of Vaughan’s efforts.  So, in respect of Vaughan Council the name of the park’s current roadway is now changed to Vaughan Cares Way. And this happened in a ceremony that was organized in June 2022. That is a beautiful way to encourage the people. And the team that helps in the landfill closure. That made this land field a regional park.

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4. Conclusion 

In conclusion, we can say that community work and proper guidance from environmental bodies can change a place from up and down. The history of north maple regional park is inspiring for other countries and the rest of Canada as well.

The commitment shown by residents of Vaughan city is appreciated and that leads to the current developments of the place. The facilities in the park like a playground, cricket ground, stormwater management, picnic spot, parking, and a lot more like a home team ground for football games.

The efforts of the Vaughan Council are exemplary for other public municipal bodies. All of us should try to do better as a community if we are living in extreme conditions. By coming together and standing up for your right to live in a better space and environment you can change your world around you and for the best.

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