North Vancouver council votes to permanently decommission Hastings Creek Trail

The District of North Vancouver council has voted to permanently decommission two sections of the popular Hastings Creek Trail, ending decades of attempts to maintain the route due to ongoing safety and environmental challenges.

Council brought the issue to a vote at a special meeting on June 15 after significant public opposition. A petition against the closure by a local resident had garnered more than 1,600 signatures as of that date.

District councillors debated the closure for nearly 40 minutes, with Councillor Jordan Back calling the decision "one of the more difficult decisions that's before us tonight." But council ultimately moved forward due to the long-term infeasibility of safely maintaining the trail.

Staff presented council with a report documenting ongoing difficulties: the creek's natural meandering course undercuts slopes and destabilizes infrastructure, significant bank erosion caused by high stream flows during increasingly frequent storm events, ongoing slope instability along the steep ravine, and glacial till soil—described as "inherently unstable"—that makes trail building difficult.

"We have four natural processes that are working against any permanent trail solution," said Monica Woods Marshall, the district's section manager for urban forestry and natural areas. She referenced a 40-year timeline of studies, geotechnical reports, localized slope failures, infrastructure damage, trail closures, and repairs. A 2021 geotechnical assessment identified 13 problem areas as medium- to high-risk to trail users.

In March, responding to the community petition, the district engaged five separate trail-building contractors to assess preservation options. Staff presented three options: decommission the central and southern sections ($500,000, already budgeted); decommission the central section and do capital works on the southern section ($2.5 million); or do major capital works on both ($5 million).

Steve Jenkins, district manager of parks, told council that even with unlimited funding, he would still recommend decommissioning. "The underlying challenge is the soil, nothing you do to that is ever going to change," he said. "You might fix the problem in one spot … but you'll find another spot, so onward and onward."

Councillor Lisa Muri acknowledged the impossible choice: "All the options are awful." Spending $2–5 million on a trail with solutions that may not work is unreasonable for taxpayers, but losing such a beloved trail with no alternative route is also hard to accept.

Mayor Mike Little noted that decommissioning the trail will not significantly affect current users—the trail in its current state is not all-ages accessible and already has significant limitations.