Street
parking & condos
There are mid-size condos being developed on Queen Street East and in
the Beaches that will have fewer parking spots than units. That is
upsetting the existing local residents who are afraid that they will
have to share street parking with the new condo residents.
Parking concerns at Kingston Road condos meeting
Beach Metro Community News
By Andrew Hudson
02 June 2, 2015
“No parking after 5 p.m.” isn’t a rule for people who live just south of Kingston Road near Main Street.
It’s just a pesky fact of life.
Speaking at a May 25 meeting about two new condos proposed for Kingston
Road, neighbouring residents said street parking in the area is already
bad, and the condos could make it worse.
A street-parking manager with the City of Toronto confirmed that area of the Upper Beach is close to capacity.
But the developer, Streetcar Developments, says the issue is largely out of their control.
“Our presence is somewhat immaterial to the overall, bigger problem,”
said Jason Garland, vice-president of business and project development.
Streetcar plans to build one six-storey condo at 663 Kingston Rd, the
former Dip ‘n Sip Donuts site on the southeast corner of Kingston and
Southwood Drive.
Another six-storey condo is planned for 646 Kingston Rd., a site just west of Main Street that backs onto the Glen Davis ravine.
Together, the two condos would have 95 underground parking spaces for
170 suites – four fewer than city requires for the residents of those
suites. Eleven more would be required if bylaws on visitor parking and
parking for the ground-floor shops at 663 Kingston Rd. are strictly
applied.
But even if they fall short of the city requirements, Aaron Knight,
Streetcar’s development manager said the buildings are very well
provided for.
That’s because after selling 90 per cent of the suites at 663 Kingston
Rd., nearly half the purchasers waived the option to buy an underground
parking spot.
It’s a trend Streetcar has seen over 15 condo projects across the city,
said Garland. Buyers often leave a large surplus of empty parking
spaces below the building.
But after hearing that underground spaces in the Kingston Road
buildings cost between $25,000 and $30,000, several residents suggested
buyers will simply favour a cheaper street-parking permit from the city.
Knight said that is a possibility, though he noted that many buyers
prefer indoor parking if they can afford it, while others are forgoing
car ownership altogether.
In any case, Knight said, given Streetcar’s past experience and the
sales data so far, building more parking spaces for either condo on
Kingston Road is unlikely to solve the problem.
Streetcar has already changed its original plan by buying a residential
property east of 663 Kingston Road so it can expand the underground
garage by 18 spaces. Streetcar plans to build a pair of townhouses on
that additional site.
City councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon said there are several ways to improve street parking in the area.
On streets such as Glen Stewart Avenue and Glen Stewart Crescent, the
free daytime street parking for non-permit holders is the city default:
three hours.
Residents can petition to limit such non-permit parking to one or two
hours, said McMahon, noting that where the limit is less than three,
parking is automatically enforced, rather than complaint-driven. Adding
some metered spaces for non-permit holders on flanking streets is
another possibility, she said.
After one resident mentioned the seniors who have trouble walking up
the hill to Glen Stewart Avenue when forced to park below it, McMahon
said residents can apply for reserved accessibility spots.
residents can request that people living in the new condos be prohibited from buying a street-parking permit.
McMahon also said residents can request that people living in the new condos be prohibited from buying a street-parking permit.
As it stands, condo dwellers can buy street parking even if underground
spaces are available – the permits cost more than triple the permit for
someone with no parking on-site, such as a house with no driveway, but
it still less than a $25,000 indoor space amortized over 30 years.
“It’s not something I would like to do,” said McMahon. “I do feel as a
taxpayer in the City of Toronto that I have the right to park on a
road, because the road belongs to the public realm.”
“But it has been done,” she said. “There needs to be support for that.”
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