Brilliant Court becomes first street in north Scarborough to allow permit parking

After years of expensive parking tickets, there’s finally some relief coming to residents in the east end.

Brilliant Court near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue is set to become the first street in north Scarborough to allow permit parking.

“It was just a demoralizing feeling for a little bit, until we really and truly took action for these permits,” says resident Eisha Thurai. “It really does change everything.”

Residents on the small street off Sandhurst Circle were getting ticketed for parking overnight, but with insufficient driveway space, risking fines became the only option for many.

“The price for a ticket is between $30 to $100, depending on where exactly the car was sitting last,” Thurai tells CityNews.

The added expense became a regular occurrence.

“In the summer it would be daily, and daily for maybe a week and a half.”

Until recently, it was impossible for residents in Scarborough to apply for permit parking.

In 2009, Toronto city council banned people living in North York and Scarborough from getting permits to park from midnight to 7 a.m. The bylaw created an exclusionary zone, meaning staff couldn’t grant permits even if most households on the street were in favour.

But in 2020, two councillors were able to have their wards pulled from the exclusionary zone. Gary Crawford in Scarborough Southwest and Cynthia Lai in Scarborough North.

“It’s about equity, and it’s about offering the residents a choice,” Lai says. “That was very important to me.”

It wasn’t easy to bring that choice to residents, though.

“I couldn’t actually convince my council on Scarborough community council,” Lai explains. “I brought it to city council and my colleagues there took the same position as me.”

That move paved the way for Brilliant Court to begin the democratic process, requiring a resident to collect votes from their neighbours.

“I basically went door-to-door kind of like a canvasser,” says Thurai. “I just made sure everyone understood why I would be pushing or asking for parking permits on this street.”

At least 25 per cent of residents must vote, and more than half must be in favour for the city to move forward with parking permits.

“Brilliant Court was the only street that was successful. The other two or three streets failed,” Lai says.

That’s not uncommon. City staff say about 30 per cent of permit parking votes don’t pass.

“The petition and the polling process is a way to demonstrate that, okay, the majority of people are in favour of this,” says Andre Filippetti, who manages parking and administration within the permits and enforcement section of Toronto’s transportation services branch.

“As you can appreciate, once you allow permit parking on a street it stirs up a lot of different emotions …it can be a very contentious issue.”

A staff report shows that Brilliant Court’s vote passed by a count of 16-10.

Councillor Lai says that since the vote has passed, she’s received calls from residents on neighbouring streets who are upset with the results.

“Look, I’m not putting it on your street,” Lai says. “If they don’t like it, it’s not on their street.”

The program was once thought to be unnecessary in the suburbs, but housing demographics are changing fast in Scarborough. Neighbourhoods once made up of single-family homes may now hold several rental units or even multiple families under one roof.

“It’s been 35 years that this program has been in existence and it really centred around the former City of Toronto,” says Filippetti. “We do recognize that times are changing …we try to keep up as best as we can.”

Thurai believes change is long overdue.

“Extend planning from downtown, from Leslieville, all the way over here …all of Toronto is pretty much the same if you allow it to be.”

Despite the red tape, residents on Brilliant Court are pleased with the process.

“It’s a great feeling,” says Thurai. “We’ve achieved something that’s constructive and that actually helps our lane.”