Kleinburg residents to appeal ‘irreversible’ decision over parking

Kleinburg and Area Ratepayers’ Association says ‘parking situation in the Village is out-of-hand’

Yorkregion.com
August 19, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Kleinburg, described by many as the “jewel” of Vaughan for its historic feel, has its residents mobilizing to launch a legal case challenging the city’s committee of adjustment decision which approved an application for a parking space that “fell short by more than 200 per cent of bylaw requirements.”

The space is in the heart of Kleinburg's downtown in what’s called the Village at 10483 Islington Ave. The building is also known as "The General Store" or "Jeremy's."

So far, the Kleinburg and Area Ratepayers’ Association (KARA) has collected $6,000, inching closer to its $10,000 target to kick-start its appeal, president Kathryn Angus told York Region Media.

“We were struggling to understand their decision,” Angus said in an email. “Previously, the council, an elected body, had held meetings at which time two applications for the downtown core of Kleinburg were discussed and in both instances they were asked to go back to the drawing board to revise their applications as the parking requirement had not been met.”

Angus also wonders why this application was considered to be a “minor” one. “We felt it should have gone to council as the other applications.”

She added, “also, this application had gone forward to the committee of adjustment on previous occasions and in each instance it had not been approved -- only on the final time on Jan. 24, 2019, it was approved.”

The main objection against this application as written by KARA’s recently circulated newsletter is that it will set a new “low” in parking requirements, sending a precedent that would make matters worse and make it “irreversible without undertaking a legal appeal.”

KARA also explained that one of the other reasons why the decision is problematic is because “some information presented to the committee of adjustment with respect to potentially available offsite parking was incorrect.”

“The appeal allowed us to address that issue,” it added. “By standing up for residents’ best interests, we have sent a message to the city and developers that KARA will stand up for its principles.”

KARA went on to say that “the parking situation in the Village is out-of-hand, with many violations and a danger to pedestrians.”

When trying to seek an explanation from the city and see if there isn’t enough space for a bigger parking space, spokesperson Teresa Fazari, wrote in an email, “Our development planning department can confirm this was approved through (committee of adjustment) for a reduction in parking from 46 spaces to 15. But then the matter was subsequently appealed and was also heard at LPAT (Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) on July 4, 2019.”

However, the response doesn't address if there is a 200 per cent reduction as claimed by KARA.

At the same time, “the decision has not yet been posted online so we are in the midst of contacting the case planner at LPAT for the decision,” added Fazari.

She said the city will respond once they have the answer “as soon as received.”

It was KARA which went to LPAT, “because of the parking required for 10483 Islington -- which they were not adhering to -- it is the proposal that the committee of adjustment finally approved -- even though they were well aware that there is an extreme parking shortage in Kleinburg."

Meanwhile, Angus said that committee members should have known the city already had money approved for a “parking study which has commenced now collecting data and is to commence in September with public meetings and participation by KARA, (business improvement association) BIA and community.”

But the president explained that the study for what to do about the parking situation is "separate from that and has just started although was included in the budget for 2019."

"We won't know about the decisions for that until early next year most likely."