This erosion control project (cost: approximately $2 million) is the second attempt at preventing the stream from undercutting the ravine slopes below Summerhill Gardens. An earlier under-engineered attempt at a lower-cost solution in 2019-20 was swept away by summer storms the following July.
The engineering of the 2025 project is in part the result of a major hydrogeomorphic analysis of the Yellow Creek route through the Vale of Avoca that was commissioned by Toronto Water, for whom the creek serves as a major element of its stormwater drainage system. The geomorphic study (made public this year) will serve as a major analytic underpinning of the Master Plan to be developed for the ravine.
The project was completed at the end of May 2025.
The new fences on either side of the work are meant to direct walkers away from the stream, but unfortunately do so into a partly swampy area. As the photo shows, they are not particularly effective. The reason for their location is that a broken rock field behind the large armour stone walls makes it infeasible to put fenceposts any closer to the edge.
For more on the climate-change-induced extreme weather events that make this engineering a requirement, see our Frequently Asked Questions page.