Thornhill Parking Lot and Staging Area Now Open
In our continuing effort to provide an improved user experience at the Thornhill Trails, the City of Maple Ridge has completed the parking and staging area for bikers, hikers, and equestrian users.
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