Your Chance to Help Shape the Future of Cliff Gilker Park

Many of us on the Sunshine Coast will remember the major flooding event that took place at the end of 2021. One of the hardest hit areas within the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) was Cliff Gilker Park, with two popular pedestrian bridges severely damaged along with several sections of trail completely flooded.

The bridges have been out of action since then, and sections of the trails in the park are showing signs of wear and tear and have continued to slowly erode with each heavy rain. The other two existing bridges are also in rough shape and need to be replaced.

Earlier this year, the SCRD received a report outlining several options for the recovery of the park. In a staff report provided to the SCRD Board on May 23, 2024, staff have recommended the decommissioning and removal of the lower waterfall and zig zag bridges. The upper waterfall and gorge bridges are being proposed for replacement along with over a half million dollars of trail repairs and accessibility improvements.

The SCRD wants to hear from the community to help shape the future of the park. Whether you visit Cliff Gilker for a stroll once a year on the yellow trail or if you're a regular on the red trail, we want to know what is important to you so that we can better plan the future of the park.

Perhaps there are areas you would like to see more trails developed. Does the park need more signage? Are there trails that should be made more accessible?

Now as always, there is some fine print. The access road, playground, and picnic areas are not part of this project. As an update to the sports field, remedial work is well underway and staff hope to have the field reopened by the fall.

So, lots of information above and even more at letstalk.scrd.ca/cliff-gilker. On this page you will find background to the project, a map outlining some of the plans for the park and a questionnaire that will take less than five minutes to complete. The questionnaire is available to complete until Friday, August 9.

Your input is greatly appreciated and will help shape the budget proposal being brought forward for the Cliff Gilker Park Recovery Project.