M E M O R A N D U M

October 8, 1998

TO:Mayor & Members of Council

FROM:Councillor Joanne Flint & Councillor Milton Berger

Ward 9 - North York Centre South

RE:CIVIC GARDEN CENTRE PROPOSED PAY PARKING

On July 30th, Toronto Council directed the Ward 9 Councillors to continue discussion with regular user groups of the Civic Garden Centre to gather pertinent information, consult with local residents' associations and put forth recommendations to Toronto Council in October. (Appendix 'A')

To date, non-profit user groups that together involve over 12,500 volunteers have been identified (Appendix 'B'), including The Garden Club of Toronto, Milne House Garden Club, Ontario Rock Garden Society whose representatives have met with Parks staff and local Councillors over the pay parking initiative.

Thousands of volunteers are repeat users of the parking lot. To provide a relief system for them from having to pay would be cumbersome and costly. It would also result in considerably reduced revenue projections.

Many user groups report that a significant number of their members are seniors. Meetings are held during the days and evenings and on weekends. The Civic Garden Centre booking schedule indicates almost full capacity use (Appendix 'C'). Organizations have contributed countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to the care and improvement of the park. A recent example is the Toronto Garden Club's establishment of The Teaching Garden - at a cost of $350,000. This amount was raised by the club members with no government assistance. The Teaching Garden is open to the public free of charge and is very popular with school groups.

Other significant facts are:

1. The original Wintario Grant that provided funds to establish the Civic Garden Centre in early 1960's was obtained on the premise that the facility would be a centre for the community.
2. The Edwards family, who gave the land to the City for a park clearly expected their legacy to be enjoyed by citizens at no cost. (Appendix 'D')
3. There is no commuter parking problem, and this park has not been identified as a location to promote TTC use. The proposed pay parking scheme is solely to produce general revenue for the Parks Department.
4. The majority of users are not tourists from out of town, but City of Toronto taxpayers. Many live in apartment buildings and enjoy the green open space of the park. They are not wealthy. Many come as families.
5. There is a minor spill-over parking problem on Summer weekends when up to 70 wedding parties per weekend are permitted to use the park to take photographs. The permit fee is currently being reviewed.

As per Council's direction, the Presidents and/or representatives from three adjoining ratepayer associations: Glenorchy, South Banbury and Don Mills Residents Association have been consulted. Their concerns focus on the principle of the public having to pay to use public open space, and the potential for spill-over parking problems for their neighbourhoods. (See letters attached)

Motorists will go to great lengths to avoid paying to park vehicles. Residents in Lawrence Park in the vicinity of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre experienced such a severe spill-over parking problem (incl. blocked driveways, litter, traffic congestion) that No Parking anytime restrictions had to be installed. This prohibition directly affects residents and their guests and has left many property owners feeling as though they are paying an onerous price for Sunnybrook's pay parking scheme.

Conclusion:

Civic Garden Centre acts as a community centre for groups and individuals whose focus is horticulture, the environment and education. Thousands of volunteers contribute to the financial viability of the Centre through special events and projects. The care and improvement of the park and its facilities that volunteers have contributed has saved the City hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It is costly and difficult to single out the many volunteers of the Centre for relief of parking fees. In any event, they form a large percentage of the users of the parking lot. Therefore, estimates of revenue depend on volunteers and are inflated. Free use of passive park space is an expected norm in our society and the Edwards family members clearly expected their legacy to be enjoyed by citizens at no cost. The suburban location of Civic Garden Centre and Edwards Gardens makes it awkward to access by public transit. Based on experience of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, it is expected that a pay parking scheme would create a spill-over problem for local residents.

The spirit of people and events at Edwards Gardens and the Civic Garden Centre is educational, inclusive and gracious. Pay parking is seen as a revenue generation scheme that violates this spirit and provides no benefit to the park or its users or volunteers.

Recommendation:

That Edwards Gardens be removed from the list of City parks identified by the Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Department for pay parking.

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Councillor Joanne FlintCouncillor Milton Berger

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