A battle for access to our shared city is currently being fought in one of Toronto’s most beautiful places. Just north of the Don Valley Brickworks a sign stuck in the tall grass next to the Mud Creek pathway reads STOP CHORLEY PARK SWITCHBACK.. Chorley Park is at the top of the slope here, surrounded by more signs in front of many a Rosedale manse. There are dirt paths & old wooden stairs joggers and hikers climb to get up and down.

Though only a 15-minute bike ride from Yonge and Bloor, all of this remains difficult to access; the consistently jammed parking lot at the Brickworks evidence most opt to drive here. The planned switchback would connect Chorley Park to the Brickworks and Mud Creek with a paved path allowing wheelchairs, strollers, and everyone else an accessible route up and down. The 82 Rosedale bus even stops at the edge of the park, so there would be easy TTC access too, but construction has been delayed due to this protest.

Chorley was the site of the grand lieutenant governor’s mansion that was torn down in 1960. Now a well-kept city park, the moat-like concrete remnants that partially surrounded the house are still here. Switchback foes have claimed environmental reasons for their opposition: too much asphalt and the clear-cutting of the slope. The environmental angle is curious because a glossy coffee table book could be made with photos of the Stop The Switchback signs next to impressively paved driveways, many of them spreading around to backyards. “The Big Book of Beautiful Rosedale Pavements,” it could be called. Why is private driveway pavement OK and public pathways not?

Lamenting a “clear cut” is odd too: anyone familiar with this particular slope knows it was always more scrubland than a thick forest. There’s even a permanent bench at the top of the ravine because trees did not impede the view here.

In her 1996 novel Fugitive PiecesAnne Michaels wrote of the walk up to Chorley from below, “We ascended the valley. The hills were scorched with sumac and sedge, cloudy with fraying thistles and milkweed . . . We emerged from the scrub of the ravine into the garden and lifted our heads to emptiness.” Hardly an old growth forest, a fact detailed on local councillor ’s websiteKristyn Wong-Tam’s website: the trees that were cut down in preparation for the switchback were mostly small and often an invasive species, while endangered butternut trees here were protected. Many more trees are to be planted.

The councillor’s website also details nearly two years of consultations and outreach around the switchback that these residents apparently didn’t care to participate in. Revising plans now could add to the project’s price tag.

Not all here are against the switchback though; the adjacent Moore Park Residents Association has come out in favour of the plan.

Ravine paths and nature can coexist just fine, and two in particular stand out. A kilometre south of here is Milkman’s Lane, running down into the valley from South Dr. Its gravel roadbed was recently renovated but there are already foot-deep fissures caused by surface water runoff. Remember all those paved Rosedale driveways that can’t absorb water and cause ravine erosion. For a nice asphalt switchback, visit Edwards Gardens at Lawrence Ave. and Leslie St., where a wide paved pathway zigzags through the forest, allowing everyone access to Wilket Creek below.

Toronto’s vast ravine system is part of our identity, but better access is needed for everyone. Chorley Park is a civic gem too, now suddenly on the map, thanks to the attention local residents have brought to it. Every Torontonian should stop by, all 2.8 million of you. It belongs to us. Have a picnic this weekend, and do check out those great Rosedale driveways while visiting your park.

Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about life in the GTA. His new book, The Trouble With Brunch: Work, Class and the Pursuit of Leisure is out now.