Item - 2021.PH20.4

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Requested the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning conduct a review of the parking requirements in the Zoning By-law 569-2013 consistent with the approach described in the report (January 5, 2021) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the General Manager, Transportation Services, the Acting President, Toronto Parking Authority and other staff as appropriate.

2. Requested the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning undertake public and stakeholder consultations on the City's parking requirements and report back to Planning and Housing Committee with the results of the consultations and emerging recommendations on changes to the Zoning By-law 569-2013 in the fourth Quarter of 2021.

This report responds to a request from Planning and Housing Committee for information related to parking requirements for new developments. The City establishes its parking requirements for new development in zoning by-laws. A review of these requirements is timely. The last review of these standards concluded in 2013.

The City's Official Plan vision is about creating an attractive and safe city that evokes pride, passion and a sense of belonging - a city where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy a good quality of life. The Plan emphasizes the importance of getting the basics right, including embracing sustainability and creating compact complete communities served by streets made for walking and by an attractive transit system. This vision is supported by policies aimed at reducing auto-dependence and limiting the amount of land occupied by automobile parking. Among other things, these policies direct parking underground and support the use of parking maximums in some areas.

The City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 parking requirements are complex. There are requirements identified for nearly 90 different uses which may also vary in different parts of the City. The City's current requirements for automobile parking in new development are variable across the City and may be too high in some areas; of recent applications, a significant proportion have been approved with parking levels below the zoning by-law minimums.

The demand for parking is shifting as a result of societal changes and other factors. Decreases in automobile ownership and increases in the popularity of automobile alternatives have influenced parking demand in many new developments. Ongoing significant investments in transit infrastructure are intended to provide travel choices to more people and reduce demand for automobile-based travel. Removing minimum automobile parking requirements from and increasing the use of maximum automobile parking requirements in zoning by-laws would also reduce the risk of a future oversupply of automobile parking.

Increasing the supply of affordable housing is a Council priority. A common comment from affordable housing advocates and the development industry has been that parking minimums increase the cost of housing, by adding to construction costs which may in turn be passed on to residents. The ability to avoid the cost of parking by choosing housing without parking is limited by the existence of minimum parking requirements. Some of Council's recent decisions recognize that the current automobile parking standards represent a barrier to the City achieving its housing vision.

This report expands on the justification for a review of the City's parking requirements and proposes an approach for reviewing them.