The Toronto Community Council recommends that:

(1) the alternate side parking regulation on Rains Avenue, from Melita Avenue to Davenport Road, be extended to apply on a year-round basis; and

(2) the appropriate City officials be authorized to take the necessary action to implement the foregoing, including the introduction in Council of any Bills that may be required.

The Toronto Community Council submits the following report (March 19, 1998) from the Director, Infrastructure Planning and Transportation, City Works Services:

Purpose:

To extend the current alternate side parking system in effect from April 1 to November 30 of each year to apply throughout the year on Rains Avenue thereby enabling more effective street cleaning during the winter months.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Should Council decide to extend alternate side parking through the winter months, the incremental cost would be $14,700.00 per kilometre. Although the costs for one street could be absorbed within the department's winter operations, implementation of the proposal throughout the Toronto Community Council area would require additional funds in the amount of $1.4 million annually.

Recommendation:

That this report be received for information.

Comments:

At the request of Councillor Betty Disero, I am reporting to the Toronto Community Council for its meeting of April 1, 1998, on the feasibility of implementing year round alternate side parking on Rains Avenue.

Rains Avenue, from Melita Avenue to Davenport Road operates two-way with a pavement width of 8.5 metres. Alternate side parking operates on this street from April 1 to November 30. Parking is prohibited on the west side of the street from December 1 of one year to March 31 of the next following year. Permit parking operates on Rains Avenue between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. daily and parking is otherwise allowed for a maximum period of three hours under the alternate side parking provisions.

Rains Avenue is in permit parking area 5C where as of March 17, 1998, 968 permits have been issued against 1,194 spaces available. Specifically on Rains Avenue, 9 parking permits have been issued to residents against 8 parking spaces available on each side of the street.

There are currently about 215 streets encompassing about 97 kilometres of roadway within the Toronto Community Council area where alternate side parking regulations are in effect. With the exception of 2 streets (Armstrong Avenue and Millicent Street, both in Ward 21-Davenport) parking alternates only from April 1 to November 30 of each year.

The former City of Toronto Council at its meeting of December 1, 1995, approved the trial implementation of year round alternate side parking on Armstrong Avenue and Millicent Street and requested staff to assess parking conditions over the winter, maintain a detailed record of the specific additional costs incurred for street servicing during the winter to ensure that these streets remained passable and to report back to the City Services Committee in 1996. As the winter of 1995/96 had relatively few substantial snowfalls, the additional service cost evaluation was somewhat inconclusive with the result that the trial extension of the alternate side parking programme was continued through the winter of 1996/97.

Based on our further assessment, during the winter of 1996/97:

(i) the cost for snow removal was equivalent to about $14,700.00 per kilometre of roadway or potentially, $1,424,000.00 annually if all 97 kilometres of alternate side parking streets were eventually converted to year-round parking changeover; and

(ii) before such a plan could be expanded, it would be necessary to acquire snow disposal facilities capable of accommodating the loads of snow that such an operation would generate.

In consideration of the foregoing, our evaluation report recommended that the trial programme be discontinued on Armstrong Avenue and Millicent Street and that this programme not be extended to other streets (Clause 67 in City Services Committee Report No. 11). Notwithstanding, City of Toronto Council at its meeting of September 22 and 23, 1997, decided that the year round alternate side parking regulations on these streets would be maintained.

Considering that there would be no increase in the number of parking spaces provided on the street and that the increased cost incurred to remove accumulated snow prior to and immediately after each changeover period is prohibitive, particularly during times when our departmental operating budget is under tight constraints, it is not advisable to extend the operational period of the alternate side parking regulations to apply year round on Rains Avenue (or for that matter on any other street in the City). If the residents have requested this measure to accommodate street sweeping on both sides, it should be understood that in a typical winter there is very little if any opportunity to deploy the equipment.

Contact Name and Telephone Number:

C. Booth, 392-7771

Senior Traffic Investigator