Item - 2016.PW10.3

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee:

1.  Deferred consideration of the item until the October 18, 2016 meeting of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, with the request that the General Manager, Transportation Services, report at that time on the feasibility of a City-wide prohibition on parking pads, such report to include:

a. A review of the current City of Toronto policy on parking pads as per Municipal Code Chapter 918, Parking on Residential Front Yards and Boulevards;

b. A review of the impact of parking pads, including, among other things, on the City of Toronto's natural environment and stormwater operations as well as the property values of residential homes;

c. An implementation plan with regard to how a prohibition on parking pads would be carried out, including estimated timelines and the associated staff, cost and other potential impacts; and

d. Undertake a review to identify a mechanism to bring unauthorized parking pad locations with existing legal ramps into compliance.

City Council on December 9 and 10, 2015, referred the following Motion MM11.21 to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

"Councillor Shelley Carroll, seconded by Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, recommends that:

1.  City Council amend Section 918-5B of Municipal Code Chapter 918, Parking on Residential Front Yards and Boulevards, to extend the moratorium on front yard parking to all Wards in the City of Toronto, and City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the necessary bill to amend this and any other sections of the chapter as are necessary to be consistent with this moratorium."

Currently, Section 918-5B of the Municipal Code states that the General Manager shall not accept a front yard parking application for front yard parking for residential properties located within the area of the former City of Toronto.  Since this moratorium was put in place, it has achieved its goal in retaining permeable surface to address water runoff on private property.

Basement flooding is a City-wide issue.  Through the creation of the City's Basement Flooding Protection Program Council directed staff to reduce the risk of basement flooding through a combination of public drainage system improvements and through the use of policies, by-laws, and incentives to reduce flood risks on private and public properties.  Currently, the budget for this work sits at $1.638 billion for the next 10 years.

Paved surfaces, such as parking pads, exacerbate the basement flooding problem because rather than be absorbed, into permeable surface such as grass, stormwater runs into the City's watermains causing capacity issues which can result in wet basements.

Consistent with the City's Basement Flood Protection program and in light of the fact that Torontonian's will be confronted with the cost of stormwater management through the creation of a new surcharge, it would be wise to looks for ways to retain permeable surface on private property to mitigate costs on all sides.  Extending the moratorium on parking pads to all wards throughout the City is one way to achieve this