City warns of precedent after Parkdale homeowner gets front-yard parking pad for new Tesla

Thestar.com
Jan. 14, 2020
David Rider

Plans to buy a Tesla have helped a Parkdale man get a front-yard parking spot over the protests of City of Toronto officials and his local councillor.

That councillor, Gord Perks, is worried others could follow suit, even if they end up parking gas guzzlers in the legalized spot rather than the promised electric vehicle, and he is trying to find a way to plug the “loophole.”

A Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB) panel late last month overruled the city committee of adjustment’s refusal to give Gregory Pechersky permission to construct a parking pad in his Springhurst Avenue yard as part of a home renovation.

Applications for such pads have long been banned in downtown wards over environmental concerns --the removal of trees and concerns that hard pads increase stormwater runoff and the amount of sewage that can flow into Lake Ontario when the city’s sewer system gets overwhelmed.

Arguing for Pechersky, planner Tyler Grinyer told TLAB his appeal was driven by a desire to own an electric car. A parking pad would let him install an external charging station complete with permeable parking stones and no damage to any trees, he told the panel.

Panel chair Ted Yao was convinced the committee of adjustment’s refusal conflicts with City of Toronto initiatives aimed at reducing Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions, including the city’s stated desire to get motorists into zero-emission vehicles.

“This application highlights a legislative and policy ‘gap’” in that the process for seeking a parking pad has “not caught up to climate change imperatives,” Yao wrote.

“I hope that this decision, which details the arduous and expensive steps a Toronto homeowner must take if she or he wishes to become ‘part of the solution,’ can inform the dialogue and assist in closing that gap.’”

In an interview Monday, Grinyer said Pechersky told him he had test-driven a Tesla and planned to buy one if he is allowed to install the parking spot and charger.

“He was trying to be green but got caught in the city’s rules on parking pads,” said Grinyer, a partner in Bousfields Inc., adding it’s the first appeal in which he has raised the charger rationale.

“We’re caught in the middle of the transition from one kind of vehicle to another and this decision is acknowledging that.”

The TLAB decision notes city initiatives, including the TransformTO plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, note the value of electric mobility over internal combustion energy. Last week, after the release of the ruling, the city issued a proposed plan to jump-start the adoption of electric vehicles.

The plan, approved by the infrastructure and environment committee and headed for full city council, includes ambitious targets for Torontonians switching to electric cars. They include encouraging a dramatic rise in public charging stations and a pilot project to install chargers on some city streets.

To reach a goal of full adoption by 2050, Toronto has to find a way to let “garage orphans”--homeowners without driveways --and residents of highrises charge vehicles at home, the plan says.

But Perks, who was a Greenpeace campaigner before entering politics, says he’ll fight to stop other residents following Pechersky’s lead.

“He didn’t get an approval for an electric car. He got an approval for a parking pad,” Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park) said in an interview.

“He’s found a loophole to get around the moratorium on parking pads in all the downtown wards. The city has no mechanism to tell you what kind of vehicle you need to park on our pad or in your garage or anywhere else.

“A number of us on (city) council are aware of this issue, we’ve raised it with city staff and we’re looking at ways to plug the loophole.”

Perks added that he’s skeptical that even if such applicants do buy electric cars it will help Toronto significantly reduce harmful emissions.

“No one has shown me the (research) that it’s better to spend public money getting people into electric cars rather than buying everyone a bicycle and giving them a free transit pass,” he said, also expressing doubts about Toronto’s ability to handle dramatically increased electrical demand.

City transportation staff are reviewing the TLAB decision and its implications.

“Staff are not aware of any other examples where a parking pad has been approved based on the desire for an electric charger,” city spokesperson Ellen Leesti said.