Item - 2018.PW29.7

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 918, Parking on Residential Front Yards and Boulevards, and City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 743, Streets and Sidewalks, Use Of, both generally in accordance with the amendments identified in Appendix A to the report (May 7, 2018) from the General Manager, Transportation Services.

The purpose of this report is to amend City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 918, Parking on Residential Front Yards and Boulevards, to eliminate conflict between Chapter 918 and Zoning By-law 569-2013 (the "ZBL") in relation to the landscaped open space and soft landscaping requirements associated with parking pads.

The ZBL was amended in December 2017 to include parking pads in the allowable exemptions in calculating minimum landscaping open space requirements so that the area occupied by a parking pad is now excluded in the calculation of the landscaping requirement of the ZBL.

The proposed amendments to Chapter 918 will eliminate from Chapter 918 the landscaped open space and soft landscaping requirements on the private property portion of a front yard given that landscaping is already regulated on those lands under the ZBL.  Effectively, the ZBL will be the only instrument that governs the amount of soft landscaping and landscaped open space on private front yards, eliminating the potential for a dual approval process under zoning and Chapter 918.

The proposed amendments will also eliminate the need for staff to manually calculate the required property area percentage for landscaping in the boulevard portion of a front yard in relation to a front yard parking pad and will replace previous percentage requirements with clear size requirements based upon different lot width sizes.

This will make it easier for the general public and staff to determine if a location qualifies for a front yard parking pad, and will maintain the intent of the Code to maximize the soft landscaping fronting the property.

Associated amendments are also proposed to City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 743, Streets and Sidewalks, Use of, arising out of the amendments to Chapter 918.