Toronto city planners have a message for anxious vehicle owners antsy about their driveway parking: Calm down. It's going to be okay.
The city's planning and growth-management committee voted on Thursday to amend its harmonized zoning bylaw to clarify exactly how many cars people are allowed to park in their driveways. There is no strict limit so long as the parked cars are in the right spot.
The bylaw, passed last year, raised an outcry from incensed motorists over a rule stating that parking spaces in residential areas must not be in the front yard or in a side yard abutting the street. It also stated that additional parking spaces were permitted for detached or semi-detached homes if they were on a driveway and within seven metres of the house. The ensuing consternation was caused by the assumption this limited the number of cars people were allowed to park in their own driveways.
The city wants to clarify that you can park as many cars in your driveway as will fit. Just don't park them on your lawn.
The new bylaw wording states that "where a private driveway leads directly to an individual townhouse dwelling unit, a detached house, a semi-detached house, or a duplex, vehicles may be parked on the private portion of the driveway leading to a parking space."
That wording doesn't change anything in the bylaw. It just seeks to erase any confusion befuddling vehicle owners.
"Parking in driveways is legal, it's permitted and it's not a problem. … People started to think [the bylaw]was restricting the number of cars in a driveway. That's not our intention," said chief planner Gary Wright.
"We hope this clarifies the issue."