The Toronto Community Council recommends that:

(1) left turns be prohibited at any time by northbound vehicles from the driveway at Premises No. 689 King Street West to King Street West;

(2) the regulation authorizing the operation of parking meters on both sides of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour, be adjusted to reflect the following:

(a) on the north side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour; and

(b) on the south side of King Street West from a point 90.0 metres west of Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour;

(3) parking be restricted to a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday:

(a) on the north side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street; and

(b) on the south side of King Street West from a point 90.0 metres west of Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street;

(4) standing be prohibited from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday on the south side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to a point 90.0 metres west;

(5) parking be prohibited from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., Monday to Saturday and at anytime on Sunday on the south side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to a point 90.0 metres west;

(6) left turns be prohibited from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, by westbound vehicles on King Street West to the driveway at Premises No. 689 King Street West; and

(7) the appropriate City officials be requested to take whatever action is necessary to give effect to the foregoing, including the introduction at City Council of any Bills that are required.

The Toronto Community Council submits the following communication (March 25, 1998) from Councillors Pantalone and Silva:

We are writing with the following recommendations regarding traffic regulations which are required as a result of the proposed car wash development at 689 King Street West. This proposal has received site plan approval and a building permit has also been issued.

Through meetings with the Works and Emergency Services staff of the Infrastructure, Planning and Transportation Division (see attached letter dated March 11, 1998), the following recommendations were developed to address potential traffic concerns relating to the development of a car wash near the major intersection of Bathurst Street and King Street West. The recommendations enumerated below address concerns about traffic flow with increased vehicular traffic to the car wash on weekends, delays complicated by the proximity of traffic light signals, and problems further complicated by on-street parking and a major public transit route (the King streetcar). We believe that the Toronto Transit Commission is supportive of the changes we are proposing.

Recommendations:

1. That left turns be prohibited at anytime by northbound vehicles from the driveway at Premises No. 689 Street West to King Street West.

The above recommendations is based on an existing condition of eastbound vehicles queuing while awaiting the traffic signal at the nearby intersection of Bathurst Street and King Street West. The prohibition of left turns at anytime from the site onto west bound King Street West is necessary in order not to tie-up both the eastbound and westbound King Street streetcar as well as other vehicular flows.

2. That the regulation authorizing the operation of parking metres on both sides of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour, be adjusted to reflect the following:

a) on the north side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour:

b) on the south side of King Street West from a point 90.0 metres west of Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street for a maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday at a rate of $0.50 per hour;

3. That parking be restricted to maximum period of one hour from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday:

a) on the north side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street;

b) on the south side of King Street West from a point 90.0 metres west of Bathurst Street to Tecumseth Street;

4. That standing be prohibited from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday on the south side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to a point 90.0 metres west;

5. That parking be prohibited from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Monday to Saturday and at anytime on Sunday on the south side of King Street West from Bathurst Street to a point 90.0 metres west;

Recommendations 2 through 5 detail the prohibition of parking/standing on the south side of King Street West. The reduction of three parking metres on the south side of King Street West will be necessary in the vicinity of the proposed site. The restrictions are intended to help the already existing queuing problems of eastbound traffic.

6. That left turns be prohibited from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday to Friday by westbound vehicles on King Street West to the driveway at Premises No. 689 King Street West; and

The centre lanes of the roadway where the "504" King streetcar operates are designated as restricted use lanes for public transit operations during the weekday morning and afternoon rush periods. Delays experienced by vehicles turning left into the site during these periods could have an effect on westbound streetcar operation.

7. That the appropriate City Officials be requested to take whatever action is necessary to give effect to the foregoing, including the introduction at City Council of any Bills that are required.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

The Toronto Community Council also submits the communication (March 27, 1998) from Mr. Mitch Stambler, Manager - Service Planning, Toronto Transit Commission:

We have recently been made aware of this development proposal and have obtained a copy of the associated traffic analysis so that we could review it, from a transit perspective. Based on our review, the TTC is strongly opposed to permitting a full-movements driveway onto King Street West at this location because it would cause lengthy and highly-variable delays to streetcars on our 504 King and 508 Lake Shore routes. It is, therefore, requested that, as a condition of development approval, the driveway be constructed in a right-in-, right-out-only design such that left turns into and out of the site are physically precluded. The reasons that the TTC does not agree with the conclusions drawn by the proponent's consultant are summarized below.

The traffic analysis obtained by the TTC consists of three memoranda. The first, a September 18, 1997 memorandum from the proponent's consultant to City staff, concluded that the site traffic forecast in the weekday a.m. and p.m. peak hours, "can be readily accommodated at the site driveway along King Street West". However, it appears that the analysis did not take into account the impacts of the traffic signals a short distance to the east and west of the proposed car wash which will result in traffic queues blocking access to the driveway. For this reason, that original analysis was not technically correct.

The proponent's consultant then conducted an actual survey of the gaps in traffic on King Street which would be long enough to allow left turns to and from the car wash. The results were included in a second memorandum, dated October 3, 1997. Not surprisingly, the number of gaps long enough to allow such left turns in the AM peak hour was less than 25% of the number of gaps predicted, theoretically, in the previous analysis. Furthermore, the survey revealed that, for approximately 20% of both the AM and PM peak hours, the proposed driveway would be blocked by eastbound traffic queues with no gaps in opposing traffic available. The memorandum suggests that, during these periods, motorists on King Street would stop west of the driveway to the car wash and thus provide "courtesy gaps" for motorists turning left to and from the site. The consultant concluded that, "based on the results of the gap study, and additional capacities likely to occur due to courtesy gaps, sufficient capacity exists to accommodate the proposed car wash facilities", with all turns permitted to and from the driveway.

TTC staff do not agree with this assessment because it did not address the time between gaps --in other words, the length of time a motorist may have to wait before an acceptable gap appears. TTC analysis of the available data has concluded that autos turning west-to-south into the site would incur average delays of over 30 seconds in the AM peak hour and 17 seconds in the PM peak hour. Average delays for autos trying to make the north-to-west left turn out of the site would be much longer; in fact, they could be several minutes if courtesy gaps are not provided. These are not acceptable operating conditions. Those motorists who are turning left out of the site, would first block the eastbound curb lane, then move onto the eastbound streetcar lane, and sit there until there is an acceptable gap in westbound traffic. Our streetcars do not have the same flexibility as other vehicles to go around such a blockage and the potential for ongoing delays is too great for this to be acceptable. Corresponding average delays in the weekend peak hour would be in the order of 45 seconds for west-to-south left turning autos entering the site and 70 seconds for north-to-west left turning autos exiting the site. The close proximity of the proposed site driveway would also be expected to reduce the capacity of the King Street West/Bathurst Street intersection. Therefore, a full-movements driveway cannot be allowed to be part of the site design for this proposal.

Streetcars on the 504 King and 508 Lake Shore routes operate as frequently as every 3 minutes, and carry over 52,000 customer-trips ono a typical weekday on this major east/west transit corridor. In an effort to improve the service, reserved streetcar lanes were implemented, and left turns prohibited, at most locations on King Street between Parliament Street and Dufferin Street during the rush hour periods. Furthermore, TTC has invested over $500,000 to provide signal priority on 504 King streetcar route to reduce the length and variability of delays on this line.

Given the importance of the streetcar service on King Street, the costs which have already been incurred by TTC to improve the service, and the annual costs of maintaining the signal priority equipment, it is not acceptable, in this transit-oriented downtown area, that the TTC be forced to accept the significant delays which will result from a full-movement driveway for this auto-oriented development. It is, therefore, requested that, as a condition of development approval, the driveway be constructed in a right-in-, right-out-only design such that left turns into and out of the site are physically precluded.

On a related matter I understand that Councillor Pantalone will be requesting more restrictive standing and parking prohibitions on King Street in this area. The TTC supports any such modifications which would improve traffic flow on this section of King Street and, thereby, further reduce delays to our streetcar service.