Councillor calls for more visitor parking in Toronto developments

A Toronto councillor is calling for an overhaul of visitor parking requirements at new housing developments, saying the current minimums are so low, they could have a negative impact on families and seniors.

Coun. Lily Cheng, for Willowdale, introduced a motion at last week's council meeting, calling on staff to include visitor parking standards as part of a broader review of parking requirements set in late 2021. 

"You can't choose where your relatives are coming from. You can't choose where your friends are coming from," she told CBC Toronto. "It's not the case that everyone can take the subway to visit you...We need to ensure there's sufficient supply in terms of fostering social connectivity."

Cheng says she is also concerned about seniors and people with disabilities. "We'd hate to have PSWs not able to visit their clients."

Visitor parking spots have traditionally been included in residential developments to accommodate passenger pick-up and drop-off, short term visits, deliveries and service providers.

In an effort to bring down housing costs, discourage unnecessary car use and reflect the decreasing need for automobiles in high-density areas of the city, council voted in late 2021 to eliminate most minimum parking requirements for new residential developments, like condos and apartment towers.

Visitor parking minimums were included in the new rules, but severely reduced: Before the changes, buildings with up to 50 dwelling units had to provide at least five visitor parking spots. That dropped to just two in 2021.

Since most parking is underground, and developers would rather not dig any deeper than is absolutely necessary to keep costs down, that's led to some questionable recent proposals, Cheng said.

"I had a new application for a 44-storey condo that only included seven visitor parking spots," she said. "I got that up to 14, but I doubt even that's enough."

Cheng says part of the problem is that city parking requirements for new developments apply across all neighbourhoods, and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't always work. What's good for the downtown core, with its relative wealth of public transit, may not be good for suburban neighbourhoods where transit is not as well developed, there are fewer public parking lots and little legal on street parking, she says.

"It's kind of a love-hate relationship," she said. "People want convenient parking, but they don't want more cars in their neighbourhoods."

Other suburban councillors are echoing Cheng's concerns.  

"I have a term I call boyfriend parking," said Coun. Shelley Carroll, for Don Valley North. "What happens when your casual partner comes over and they're not going home tonight? Or mum and dad come over for the weekend. Where does that car go?"

Last year, in response to concerns from some councillors, city staff launched a review of the 2021 parking minimums.