Chilliwack - Little Mountain Stairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 3, 2022

Council Awards Contract for Little Mountain Stairs

Chilliwack, BC: On Tuesday, August 2, 2022, Chilliwack City Council awarded the Request for Quotation for “Little Mountain South Face Trail Stairs” in order to create a pedestrian route that will connect the valley floor to higher elevation trails on Little Mountain. The base of the stairs, along with a new parking area, will be located on City property at 46963 Yale Road.

The project scope comes with a high degree of construction difficulty as the route is on an extremely steep hillside terrain and involves heavy lifting and machinery access challenges. The existing ground slope of the corridor varies from 30% to slightly over 50%.

The Little Mountain Stairs are an important component in the City of Chilliwack’s Greenspace Plan, which has identified the potential for a greenbelt and trail network around the north, west and southwest areas of Little Mountain. This proposed greenbelt is an assembly of City owned and future remainder lands after the development of privately-owned parcels. The goal of the greenbelt is to protect and preserve the forest and incorporate trails, nodes, viewpoints and educational areas, while allowing members of the public to access the greenspace.

“We are excited to move forward with this project that will help create more trails in the area,” said Mayor Ken Popove. “The City’s Greenspace Plan sets out a vision for the future of our parks and constructing these stairs is a true next step to the future of greenspace in Little Mountain.”

The City has allocated a budget of $200,000 to create the Little Mountain Stairs, which will link the valley floor and the proposed greenbelt for foot traffic. The budget also includes the creation of a new parking lot area at the base of the stairs on Yale Road.

The stairs will feature an eight-foot-wide stair corridor that extends approximately 128 metres, rising approximately 60 metres from the parking facility on Yale Road to a potential trail connection point. Approximately 340 recycled plastic posts will be placed to act as stair treads as part of the project.