POLL RESULTS: PROPOSAL TO REPLACE ALTERNATE

SIDE PARKING ON BEECHWOOD AVENUE WITH EXCLUSIVE

ON-STREET PERMIT PARKING ON THE EAST SIDE OF STREET

Ward 27, York Humber

City Clerk

(September 20, 1999)

Purpose:

To show results of a poll conducted of residents on Beechwood Avenue (municipal address #2 - 50 only) regarding a proposal to replace alternate side parking on Beechwood Avenue with exclusive on-street permit parking on the east side of Beechwood Avenue.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

None.

Recommendations:

For the consideration and direction of York Community Council.

Council Reference:

Clause No. 15(i) embodied in Report No. 7 of York Community Council.

Background:

York Community Council, at its meeting held on June 22, 1999 directed that the City Clerk conduct a poll of residents on Beechwood Avenue to determine majority interest with respect to this proposal.

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

The following is a breakdown of the poll results, based on the number of replies returned:

Total No. Polled:54

No. of Replies Received:14 or 26%

No. of Replies IN FAVOUR:4 or 29%

No. of Replies NOT IN FAVOUR:10 or 71%

The following is an overall breakdown of responses according to resident owners, non-resident owners and tenants:

 

	Total # Polled	No. of Replies Received (%)	No. of Replies in Favour (%)	No. of Replies Opposed (%)
Resident Owners	46	12 (28%)	3 (25%)	9 (75%)
Non- Resident Owners	2	1 (50%)	0	1 (100%)
Tenants	6	1 (17%)	1 (100%)	0
TOTAL	54	14	4 (29%)	10 (71%)

Comments from residents are attached hereto as Appendix 1.

Conclusions:

As noted above, the majority of residents, based on the responses received, are not in favour of the proposal to replace alternate side parking on Beechwood Avenue with exclusive on-street permit parking on the east side of Beechwood Avenue.

Contact Name:

Steve Brown, Transportation Services

392-5202

392-8504 (fax)

or

Valerie D'Alessandro, Committee Secretary

394-2522

394-2803 (fax)

Appendix 1

Proposal to Replace Alternate Side Parking on Beechwood Avenue with Exclusive On-street Permit Parking

Comments from Residents:

In Favour:

(a)I think this would be beneficial because the majority of houses without driveways is on the east side of Beechwood Avenue.

(b)I guess it will be more parking space.

(c)This letter contains my personal experience and comment in regards to the parking on Beechwood Ave. I have been parking on Beechwood Ave. for the past three years. At first, there seemed to be no problem with the parking conditions on the street; however, it has gotten worse over the years for many reasons. There seems to be a chronic problem of overcrowding on the street during the period of 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. From my observations, it appears the primary reasons for this are:

Lack of routine enforcement on this street. Granted, there are times when there are visitors on the street; this is not the problem. The problem is parking on the street without a permit overnight. Quite frankly, one finds it very frustrating having to ask neighbours to park in their driveway when I pay eighty-two dollars to park on the street. This is not only an inconvenience for me, but also for my neighbour. Note: there has been a car parked on the street with an expired permit since June and has still not received a ticket for this violation.

Currently, the City issues parking permits on a first-come, first serve basis. One feels that the City should not be giving permits to everybody. It is evident that most of the houses on this street have mutual driveways which are too narrow to accommodate today's modern family sedan, so it should only be fair that individuals who live in these homes be given parking permits. This is not the case in the present day. Everybody can receive a permit, even those with private driveways. It is only logical that if these people are not issued a permit that there is a higher probability of coming home at night and having a parking spot on the street, even if there were visitors on the street.

Presently, not only myself but other individuals who park on the street are aware of individuals saving parking spots (for nobody) during the day; that is, they park on the street all during the day and at midnight move their cars into their driveways. This is particularly upsetting because when you try to park on the street there are no spots, but if you were to look out the window at 12:30 a.m., there are plenty of spots because all the cars without permits are in their driveway.

Appendix 1

Proposal to Replace Alternate Side Parking on Beechwood Avenue with Exclusive On-street Permit Parking

It has come to my attention and others' attention that the people who save the parking spots live on the west side of Beechwood Ave.; therefore, when the parking is on the west side of Beechwood Ave., they park on the street. If the City is to put the parking on the east side of Beechwood Ave. permanently, these individuals will not put their cars on the street. One can safely say this because it happens every time the parking is moved to the east side of Beechwood Ave. The reason, then, that I feel and others feel there are more parking spots on the east side of Beechwood Ave. is that there are no stray cars saving parking spots until midnight.

I feel that the City should reconsider their current policy of letting cars park on the street for three hours during the day. It should be changed such that all cars that are parked on the street, regardless of time, should have a permit. In this way, the parking enforcement officer could issue tickets to violators who don't have permits. At present, if I were to request enforcement during the day (i.e. from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.), this would cause absolute chaos for all the neighbours, simply because every three hours they would have to move their cars from one parking spot to another for fear of getting a parking ticket. As bad as the case is with the parking, one would not consider this option simply out of consideration on the for my neighbours, unlike some individuals on the street.

As for the City's concern about the road cleaner, it makes no difference which side the parking is on. The cleaner has a difficult time weaving in and out of the parked cars anyway, regardless of which side the parking is on. Also, it is worth noting that individuals like myself and others who take pride in our neighbourhood take the time to clean the street of garbage when there happens to be any trash in front of our house.

I think it is fair to say, without any reserve, that the only means of solving the problem of parking on Beechwood Ave. is to: a) move the parking to the east side permanently; b) make it mandatory to have a permit at all times to park on the street.

City Council should not only base their decision on the poll sent in the mail, but also consider the first-hand experience from individuals like myself.

Not In Favour:

a)To serve justice, leave it as it is.

Appendix 1

Proposal to Replace Alternate Side Parking on Beechwood Avenue with Exclusive On-street Permit Parking

 b)As you can see, I am not in favour of the proposal because at this present time we have people who have private driveways taking their cars out of their driveway and parking them on the street in one spot, etc. for the remainder of the day so they can save parking spots. People that have permits to park on the street cannot find somewhere to park. These same people at times also leave their cars parked overnight if they wish. We do not seem to have the Parking Authority coming around at random intervals to 'curb' this overnight problem. Please do not say this is due to cutbacks.

I feel that if we were to have only one-side parking all the time the problems would increase and the people that are paying to have a permit for parking will be out of luck completely. Where is the justice? I also fid that a lot of people don't care where they put their snow and most of the time it is on the roadway and, again, lost parking spots.

c)There is nothing wrong with the parking as it is. I have not heard of any complaints. Why change?

d)Maintaining the existing alternate side parking regulations on Beechwood Ave., between Lambton and Outlook Aves. benefits all the residents.

e)I am not in favour of changing what we have now. There will always be some complaining, no matter what. To make changes will be an expense as signs will have to be changed. Do we need to spend the extra money? Our problem is too many cars on a narrow street -- people with two and three cars and narrow driveways so they don't use them. What would be the benefit as each side has equal spaces?

f)I don't think the change will make any difference. The parking spaces will remain the same. Why the change?

g)Any resulting inconvenience should be shared equally by residents on both sides of the street. I am concerned about: 1) How will the street be cleared in front of my home; 2) snow removal; 3) someone parking too close to my ramp to allow my car to enter my driveway. I have had this problem in the past.

h)This should not be an issue. How about speed bumps and ticketing speeders and issuing some of those three-hour tickets, due to the high number of families with small children.