Not In My Parking Space? Electric cars are the city’s future, but this Toronto street rejected on-street chargers

Thestar.com
Feb. 1, 2023

When the future was set to come to a small street in midtown Toronto, in the form of on-street electric vehicle chargers, homeowners said “No, thank you.”

The rejection -- by residents of Cuthbert Crescent, east of Yonge Street between Davisville Avenue and Eglinton Avenue -- likely won’t be the last as the city tries to blanket the city with EV charging options vital to climate-change goals.

Homeowner hesitation is one more complication to getting chargers on residential streets for use by residents or visitors. Other obstacles include equipment requirements such as utility poles close to existing on-street parking spots.

Ken Kallish, a Cuthbert resident, said negative reaction from him and some neighbours to city plans last year for two double-chargers was based on practical concerns -- not NIMBYism.

The chargers “made no sense at all on a small street with young families and young kids playing out on the street all day,” Kallish said. “Also, they would take spots so that owners of two houses wouldn’t be able to park in front of their own home.”

Almost everyone on the leafy street has a garage or driveway, he said, adding that some of those who rejected the public-use devices are EV owners who have installed chargers on their own property.

“We all get the need to install charging stations,” Kallish said, “but it doesn’t work here and I know there are other streets that would love to have them.”

They learned of the plan in a newsletter from Josh Matlow, their city councillor.

Matlow supports the urgent need to facilitate and encourage EV adoption, but understands residents’ concerns the chargers would attract EV owners from other parts of the ward and make Cuthbert “the parking lot for midtown.”

At his request, city staff cancelled installation plans. The charger instead went to 1760 Queen St. E. in The Beach.

“I find that people respond better when you do things with them, rather than around them,” said the Ward 12 Toronto--St. Paul’s representative, adding that unease with residential on-street chargers will diminish as people see more of them on main streets and in parking lots.

“Hopefully, in the near future this is going to be so normal that it won’t be controversial.”

Getting motorists to switch from gas guzzlers to EVs, or better yet walking, biking or on public transit, is vital to Toronto’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2040 to help reduce flooding, extreme storms and other climate-change impacts.

Last year the city transferred responsibility for EV charging infrastructure to the Toronto Parking Authority after an on-street charging pilot project by the city transportation department and Toronto Hydro languished with little progress.

Under a plan approved in December, 117 chargers in Green P parking lots and 47 on-street are expected to grow over two years to more than 500 in parking lots and more than 150 on-street, including on residential roads.

Nazzareno Capano, a manager in the city’s transportation department, said criteria for neighbourhood chargers includes ensuring permit parking for the street is at no more than 90-per-cent capacity, so permit holders won’t be squeezed out.

“With a parking permit there’s no assurance you’re going to get the parking spot in front of your house,” Capano said, adding he has fielded some negative feedback to new chargers, along with kudos from others happy for the option.

City staff searched for spots with an existing utility pole close enough to the roadway to stretch cords, and where it won’t cross a bike lane. Chargers must be a certain distance away from intersections and not “overly clutter” rights of way.

“Each location is different but we’re always trying to go with the quickest and cheapest option,” Capano said.

Coun. Dianne Saxe, a former Ontario environment commissioner, wants the city plan to include more on-street chargers. She also wants city staff to “put on their creative hats” and think up other ways to make EV ownership easier for Torontonians who don’t own driveways or garages.

She is asking staff to consider possible ways people could install their own chargers on city-owned roadside property, or somehow get a cord from their home to the curb without tripping pedestrians.

Saxe has heard calls to relax moratoriums on front-yard parking pads if the surface is permeable, causing less stormwater runoff while allowing homeowners to get near a home charger.

She isn’t convinced that’s the best solution, but says the risk of climate catastrophe means Toronto must urgently look at a host of creative options to encourage EV adoption, while also strongly encouraging the use of electric bikes that don’t cause gridlock and are easier to charge.

“The whole thing about the energy transition is that things are going to change whether we want them to or not because physics doesn’t care what we think,” Saxe said.

“The climate crisis is galloping along and there will be more and more changes forced upon us if we don’t get ahead of the game a little bit and figure out how to make the transition as smooth as possible. It won’t be perfect.”