Concept Plan

Updated: August 30, 2023

The Maple Ridge Parks, Recreation & Culture department used the community feedback gathered during the first phase of engagement to develop a concept plan for the Albion Fairgrounds dog off-leash area improvements.

Please take a few minutes to review the concept plan for the improvements to this dog off leash area and share your thoughts through our comment form. We would like to receive your feedback by September 13, 2023.

This plan aims to create a more comfortable and safe experience by addressing poor site drainage and visibility.

To minimize water pooling, the drainage infrastructure will be upgraded to direct water out of the dog off-leash area to a rain garden. Site grading and gravel surfacing will also be installed to help to provide dogs and people firm dry ground to gather on near the existing seating area or walk along on the proposed perimeter walking loop. 

Additional lighting is being proposed to illuminate the park at night and during the dark fall and winter months. This will increase accessibility and safety. 

Park users can expect to see these changes throughout 2023 and 2024. Once the work and scheduling has been finalized, we will provide notice of any service disruptions that may follow. 

Community Consultation Results – What We Heard From You!

Thank you to all those who participated in our community consultation period. We heard a lot of great feedback, with the top five most requested improvements for the dog off-leash area being:

1. Improved drainage
2. Lighting
3. Trees for shade
4. Drinking water for dogs and people
5. Improved surfacing

With your input we will now move towards planning how best to deliver these improvements. Stay posted for an upcoming concept plan.

Community Consultation Period 

The City of Maple Ridge is planning improvements to the Albion Fairgrounds dog off-leash area and we would like to hear from you. 

Please join us at the Albion Fairground dog-off leash area on Wednesday, July 20 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM where we will be available to discuss what changes you and your dog would like to see. 

We also encourage you to fill out a online comment form so that we can capture your feedback.

We would appreciate receiving your feedback by August 7, 2022.

Questions and comments can be directed to Melissa Coderre, Parks Planning Technician, at 604-467-7466 or by email to mcoderre@mapleridge.ca.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Beach Volleyball Courts

Open for Drop-In - August 2023

The four new beach volleyball courts at Albion Sports Complex are now open for drop in use! A grand opening event will be held in September to celebrate this new competition venue for the BC Summer games in July 2024.

These courts were constructed with funding support from BC Summer Games legacy funds and the Government of Canada Gas Tax Fund/Canada Community Works Building Funding.

Under Construction – Spring/Summer 2023 

Construction of the 4-court beach volleyball facility at the Albion Sports Complex is underway!

Efforts to minimize disruption to surrounding activities are in place including temporary fencing around the project site and special accommodations for events. Throughout this process, special attention has been given to finding competition grade sand to fill the courts. 

We anticipate opening these new courts in Summer of 2023. Thank you for your patience as we work to deliver this new sports facility. 

Final Plan

With further input from key stakeholders, a final plan for the new beach volleyball courts at Albion Sports Complex was developed (see below). Construction for these sand volleyball courts will begin over the next several months and is anticipated to be complete in summer for our user groups and residents to enjoy. 

We will update with more information on the construction timeline as details are determined. Thank you to all who have participated in this process.

Community Consultation Results – Your Preferred Location

Thank you to all those who participated in our community consultation period. The votes are in and they are overwhelmingly in favour of Albion Sports Complex with 61% of respondents selecting this park as their top choice to locate beach volleyball courts.

With all the feedback received, we have ample information to help guide this process to develop this new amenity for the BC Summer Games, and serve our community in the long term. 

Proposed Location – Community Consultation 

With support from BC Summer Games legacy funds and the Government of Canada Gas Tax Fund/Canada Community Works Building Funding, the City of Maple Ridge is building a beach volleyball facility. 

We gathered feedback on three potential locations: Maple Ridge Park, Whonnock Lake Park, or Albion Sports Complex. Citizens were asked to review the information panel for these proposed locations and to then share their thoughts by completing a Public Comment Form (now closed) by August 14, 2022.

Hammond Park Playground Replacement

October 2023 – Construction

The replacement of the playground at Hammond Park will take place starting November 2023. This work is expected to take approximately 2 -3 weeks, depending on the weather. During this time, the playground and immediate area will be closed and will re-open when the installation of the new playground is completed. 

Thank you for your patience.

July 2023 – New Playground Coming Soon 

A playground supplier has now been selected for this playground replacement. This new playground will incorporate a rubber safety surfacing to promote better accessibility for children of all ages and mobilities. The play structure itself will be accessible via a transfer station and will have a spiral slide and net climber bridge and multiple climbing components. There will be an inclusive multi seat spinner that will be accessible via the rubber surfacing as will the inclusive swing seat. 

This playground replacement project is partially funded through the Enabling Accessibility Fund contributed by the Government of Canada. 

Construction of this playground is expected to take place later in the fall. Check out the design for the new playground for Hammond Park below! 

January 2023 – What We Heard From You

Thank you to all who participated in our neighbourhood consultation process. We received 41 survey responses during the comment period. 

The top play features requested by respondents included: 

• Spiral slide in the playground
• Child/adult and toddler swing seats
• Rock, wall or net climber play components
•  Rope Bridge

A request for proposal process will be undertaken to determine a playground equipment supplier as well as a construction timeline.

November 2022 – Public Comment Period

The Maple Ridge Parks, Recreation & Culture department is proposing to replace the playground at Hammond Park as part of the City’s Lifecycle Program. As part of this process we would like to hear from you on what play features you would like to see in Hammond Park. 

Thank you for sharing your feedback through the comment form. The comment form was open for responses from October 24, 2022 to December 17, 2022.

If you have questions about this project or would like to provide comments directly, please contact Peter Warmerdam, Landscape Technician at pwarmerdam@mapleridge.ca.

Project Location

20577 Lorne Ave, Maple Ridge

Kin Park Multi-Use Sports Court

October 2023 – What We Heard and Next Steps

Thank you to all who participated in our neighbourhood consultation process that was held this summer. Over the course of the engagement period we received 49 survey submissions.

63% of respondents to the survey indicated that they would like to see a new sports court added to Kin Park. While 61% of respondents agreed with the proposed location shown on the information panels.

While there appears to be a strong interest from the neighbourhood to play basketball at Kin Park and at the proposed location, there were some concerns raised about the size of a full-size sports court at the proposed location and its impact on grass open space.

To support residents request to play basketball in the park while retaining an open grass area for informal use we are proposing to install a half size multi-sport court with basketball and mini hockey goals. The location of the half court is shown below.

We will also be improving the existing baseball field with a new backstop and players benches.

The City will work through the detailed design and procurement process and will target construction of this sports court for Spring 2024.

July 2023 - Community Engagement

The Maple Ridge Parks, Recreation & Culture department is proposing to install a new full-size multi-use sports court at Kin Park. This is based on the responses that the City received following a survey in November 2022, exploring adding a basketball hoop onto the existing tennis court. 

As part of this process, we have identified a proposed location for a multi-use sports court that minimizes potential tree impacts. Please see the map for location and additional information.

Take the Survey

Please take this survey by September 8, 2023 to have your say on the proposed location for a multi-use sports court at Kin Park.

Attend the Open House

The City will be hosting an open house event on August 17, 2023 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM at Kin Park. Please drop-in to talk to staff, ask questions and provide feedback. 

Project Location

21790 121 Avenue

Parking Lot Construction 

A parking lot and trails staging area will be constructed at Thornhill near the intersection of 256th St and 104th Ave during the summer of 2023. The parking lot will have 24 parking stalls and will also include a pit toilet, sign kiosk, picnic table, fencing, bike repair station, horse hitching post and mounting blocks. 

The new trail wayfinding signage was also recently installed across Thornhill. 

New Map and Wayfinding Signage

A new comprehensive map of Thornhill trails and their primary user type has been released for Thornhill. This new trail map can be viewed here. This map was refined with stakeholder input and reflects the proposed trail plan shared in 2021.

New wayfinding signs that incorporate this map and trail classifications are anticipated to be installed in early 2023. Renderings of wayfinding signs and safety signage are shown below.

Next Steps

As part of the next steps in the Thornhill Trails engagement process we will continue working with the trail stakeholder groups to implement new signage and wayfinding, explore staging area improvements at 256 St and work towards putting in place a trail maintenance agreement. 

As a result of what we heard and given the importance of this trail resource to the community, a long term management plan for the Thornhill Trails area was identified to consider environmental impacts, staging, access and future park use opportunities. Work on this is anticipated to start in 2023 and will build on the outcomes of the Trails Study.

Community Consultation Results – Part 2

Thank you for your patience as we summarized the comment form submissions. We received a total of 279 responses to this survey. A summary of what we heard though this consultation is included in the infographic below.

Please see this document for the detailed results of the Part 2 of the Thornhill Trails Study.

Part 2 - Community Consultation
The Maple Ridge Parks, Recreation & Culture department is pleased to be hosting a second open house and public engagement process as part of the Thornhill Trails Study. This past October, the City collaborated with trail stakeholder groups (Haney Horsemen and Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association) and used the findings to develop a proposed trail plan for Thornhill. The design prioritizes the safety and needs of primary trail user groups. 

The information panels from the open house are available for review. The open houses were held on November 18 and November 22, 2021. As part of this public engagement process we invited your feedback from November 18 until December 13, 2021.

Thank you for your feedback and comment form submissions. We’ve received nearly 300 submissions as part of the second part of this engagement process.

We will now be working through summarizing the comment form submissions and will provide an update on next steps in early 2022.

Part 1 - Community Consultation Results
Thank you for your patience as we summarized the comment form submissions. Some of the findings from this trails study are included below:

• Of the total survey respondents 72% identified as being residents of Maple Ridge, while 28% lived elsewhere, mostly within the lower mainland. 
• Of the Maple Ridge residents, 43% identified as hiking trail users, 41% identified as mountain bike trail users, 10% identified as equestrian trail users and 6% identified as other trail users including dog walkers, trail runners, photographers and bird watchers.
• Just over half of the Maple Ridge resident trail users visited the Thornhill trails several times a week, with most trail users from outside of Maple Ridge visiting a few times a month. 
• Primary trail access point for trail users is from the south at 256 Street, with secondary access points from the west at 248 Street and east at 264 Street. 
• As anticipated, Bear Ridge and George’s Way, the City’s primary trails, were the most often traveled. 
• The trails on Thornhill were important to trail users for various reasons including, for meeting other people, recreating outdoors and for health and fitness reasons; as well, the close proximity of these trails to the urban area. 
• Trail users on Thornhill told us what would support them as a trail user in this area. The most requested support for trail users was for additional signage, maps, and wayfinding followed by an improved parking and staging area at 256 Street, followed by increased trail maintenance of the informal trails. Additional requests included providing additional garbage receptacles, a washroom and designating certain trails.

Please see this document for the detailed results of the Part 1 of the Thornhill Trails Study.

Part 1 - Community Consultation

As part of the community consultation process we invited your feedback from August 25 to October 15, 2020. Through this time we’ve received nearly 800 comment form submissions, thank you for your interest and feedback in this process. 

Project Description
The Maple Ridge Parks, Recreation & Culture department will be engaging with the community to gather public feedback on the trails and informal trails on Thornhill / Grant Hill. A variety of activities are currently taking place on Thornhill including hiking, biking, dog walking and equestrian use.

Due to Covid-19 we encouraged residents to review the information panels before completing the online comment form (which closed October 15, 2020). 

Questions and comments can also be directed to Chad Neufeld, Manager of Parks Planning & Development, at 604 467-7338 (ext. 2) or by email to cneufeld@mapleridge.ca. 

Project Location
Thornhill/ Grant Hill
Maple Ridge

Trans Canada Trail Repairs

September 2023

The City has recently completed the replacement of a retaining wall and trail resurfacing work of a section of the Ridge Meadows Trail at Merkley Park and Maple Ridge Secondary School. This section of trail is part of the Trans Canada Trail that navigates through the City of Maple Ridge. 

This Project was funded in part by a grant received from Trans Canada Trail to enhance our local section of Canada’s national trail.

Did you know that:

The Trans Canada Trail is the world’s longest network of multi-use recreational trails. As of August 2021, the Trail stretches more than 28,000km – and continues to grow – across every province and territory. It’s a showcase of Canada’s diverse landscapes and cultures, and a sustainable national asset that fosters unity, collaboration and connectedness. Our national trail is managed by local trail groups and partners who work in conjunction with Trans Canada Trail, a registered charity.

 To read more about the Trans Canada Trail or to explore the map please visit Trans Canada Trail | Canada's National Trail (tctrail.ca)