Item - 2025.PH18.3

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend Zoning By-law 569-2013 substantially in accordance with the draft Zoning By-law Amendment attached as Attachment 1 to the report (January 9, 2025) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Executive Director, Development Review, to update the accessible, visitor and bicycle parking standards.

2. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the Zoning By-law Amendment as may be required.

3. City Council rescind the delegated approval and signing authority from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and their designate and delegate the approval and signing authority to the Executive Director, Development Review for agreements related to payments-in-lieu of bicycle parking under Clause 230.5.10.11(7) of Zoning By-law 569-2013, as amended, in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

4. City Council direct the Executive Director, Development Review to use $538 per "short-term" bicycle parking space reduced, adjusted for inflation, as the basis upon which payments under Clause 230.5.10.11(7) of Zoning By-law 569-2013, as amended, be calculated.

5. City Council direct the Executive Director, Development Review to use $1076 per "long-term" bicycle parking space reduced, adjusted for inflation, as the basis upon which payments under Clause 230.5.10.20(1) of Zoning By-law 569-2013, as amended, be calculated.

6. City Council adopt the Guidelines for the Design and Management of Bicycle Parking Facilities, included as Attachment 2 to the report (January 9, 2025) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Executive Director, Development Review, and direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the Executive Director, Development Review, to use the Guidelines in the evaluation of all current and new development applications.

7. City Council direct the City Solicitor, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division and the Executive Director, Development Review to explore options to maintain accessible parking standards in Major Transit Station Areas and Protected Major Transit Station Areas.

8. City Council direct the Executive Director, Development Review to continue to apply existing accessible parking standards in Major Transit Station Areas and Protected Major Transit Station Areas.

9. City Council direct the Executive Director, Development Review, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to report back to Etobicoke York Community Council before the end of second quarter of  2025 with a City-initiated draft amendment to City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 to apply the new parking standards to any future development on Blocks 2 and 4 in Plan of Subdivision 66M-2265 for 1400 Weston Road.

10. City Council direct the Executive Director, Development Review to require site plan applications related to any future development on Blocks 2 and 4 in Plan of Subdivision 66M-2265 for 1400 Weston Road to be supported by a Transportation Impact Study including a Traffic Operations Assessment which considers the proposed amount of parking. 

11. City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Development Review, to:

a. Identify areas in the City where the amount of visitor parking provided in new development is inadequate;

b. Draft new minimum visitor parking standards for new development in those areas, potentially including a minimum proportion of proposed parking which must be designated for visitors;

c. Consult the public on the draft new minimum visitor parking standards; and

d.  Report back to Council by fourth quarter of 2025 with a zoning by-law amendment if necessary to update the minimum visitor parking standards for new development.

12. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Executive Director, Development Review to update the Transportation Impact Study Guidelines to include guidance on how to consider the parking and pick-up/drop-off impacts of developments with low parking provision and appropriate mitigating measures.

13. City Council request the Executive Director, Development Review to consider, as part of the development approvals process, a requirement to include information related to availability of parking and visitor parking within agreements of purchase and sale and lease agreements.

14. City Council request the Executive Director, Development Review to consider requiring the number of visitor parking spaces proposed in developments be included on notice of proposed development application and public meeting signs and placed in a prominent location on the Application Information Centre.

The Planning and Housing Committee held a statutory public meeting on January 23, 2025, and notice was given in accordance with the Planning Act.

The recommendations in this report build on work started in 2021 to review the parking standards in the City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013. These standards were originally adopted by City Council in 2013 and based on a series of studies conducted between 2005 and 2007. The first phase of this review resulted in amendments to the standards for automobile and bicycle parking in 2022, but left comprehensive reviews of accessible parking and bicycle parking for a subsequent phase. City Council directed staff to continue the work to review the accessible parking and bicycle parking standards. They also directed other related work, including a further review of the impacts of the changes to the visitor parking standards.

This report recommends the adoption of a Zoning By-law Amendment to City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 (Attachment 1) to modify the current standards for accessible and bicycle parking. Minor modifications to aspects of the visitor parking standards are included. The report also recommends the adoption of updated Guidelines for the Design and Management of Bicycle Parking Facilities (Attachment 2).

The recommended changes to the accessible parking standards advance the Official Plan vision to enable everyone – regardless of age, income, ability, race, ethnicity, gender, or any other attribute – to have convenient and safe access to the range of things that contribute to a good quality of life. It does this by, among other things, introducing a requirement that at least 5 percent of parking in new developments be accessible. Higher required proportions of accessible parking are recommended at medical offices and clinics, as well as residential developments in Parking Zone A (generally areas within 400 metres of frequent higher-order transit). To ensure that there is a reasonable supply of accessible parking, including in developments with very low overall parking supply, requirements for accessible parking based on the number of dwelling units or gross floor area of non-residential developments are also recommended. The changes would also simplify the process of retrofitting existing parking spaces to become an accessible parking space. As the City does more to encourage walking, cycling and transit and reduce auto dependence, a greater proportion of parking will need to be accessible to maintain comparable access for people who rely on accessible parking.

The review of the bicycle parking standards in Zoning By-law 569-2013 and of the Guidelines for the Design and Management of Bicycle Parking Facilities was guided by the principle that the bicycle parking zoning standards should require sufficient parking to encourage people of all ages, abilities and means to bicycle for everyday transportation, recreation, and commercial activity. Throughout the review, the quality of the bicycle parking was considered with greater importance than the quantity of the parking. The recommended changes generally maintain the standards related to the quantity of bicycle parking provided. They also increase the standards for the quality of the bicycle parking and include recommendations to improve quality in the Design Guidelines. Some of the recommendations will reduce requirements which were a barrier to small-scale development or were considered unnecessary. Other changes will introduce flexibility for developers to decide how best to support the growth of bicycling. The recommended changes to the Zoning By-law include: 

• Expanding the Payment-in-Lieu of Bicycle Parking Program to all types of bicycle parking for residential use, city-wide;
• Increasing bicycle parking requirements for Education Use, Private School, Public School, Office and Medical Office uses;
• Establishing a bicycle parking standard for Residential Care Home, Retirement Home, Nursing Home and Student Residence uses;
• Introducing bicycle parking requirements for other uses which do not already have them, based on a percentage of the amount of vehicle parking provided;
• Removing the requirement for a minimum of 3 short-term bicycle parking spaces for all uses;
• Reducing the requirements for shower and change facilities;
• Lowering the minimum width requirement of staggered bicycle parking spaces; and
• Introducing new requirements relating to oversized bicycle parking, aisle width, stacked and vertical racks restrictions, and access and paths to indoor bicycle parking.

Although the amount of visitor parking proposed in new development has declined significantly in recent years, most of this decline occurred prior to the work which ultimately resulted in the reduction in minimum visitor parking requirements. Since the reduction in the minimum visitor parking standards did not appear to have a significant effect on the amount of visitor parking supplied in new development, the review does not recommend significant changes to the visitor parking standards. However, the decline in visitor parking is worth exploring further as it plays a role in basic building maintenance functions, can support social inclusion for people and other important functions. Staff will enhance the monitoring program to more fully consider the supply of and demand for visitor parking, and to work across divisions to identify ways to increase the availability of parking for visitors throughout the city, where appropriate.