Parking in the Beaches is already a challenge. It just got more difficult for some

In the 15 years Nicolette Stacey has lived in Toronto’s Beaches community, finding a parking spot was never simple but now she says it’s near impossible.

“I pay hundreds of dollars for an on-street parking permit that is essentially worthless,” she told Speakers Corner. “It never used to be this bad.”

Stacey lives on a street just north of Queen Street East, where there have been recent traffic updates to increase pedestrian safety along the corridor, a longstanding problem in this community.

“We welcome the changes because there are a lot of safety concerns here with the amount of traffic on Queen, but we did not know those changes would lead to a loss of parking,” she said. “They’ve taken away about four or five spots on this street, and it seems like the same at the four corners of this intersection.”

Finding a spot to park in this community has never been an easy task, especially in the summer as hundreds of people visit the area to enjoy the beach nearby.

“But even with that, we’ve never had an issue parking our vehicles overnight, now it’s impossible,” Stacey said. “Many of us don’t have driveways and we rely solely on street parking.”

According to City of Toronto staff, several on-street parking spaces were removed after the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Silver Birch Avenue and Queen, one of many traffic changes made to increase pedestrian safety in the Beaches. According to City staff, when a traffic light is installed parking modifications need to happen under current bylaws.

“At intersections controlled by traffic control signals, parking is prohibited at all times within 30.5 metres of the intersection,” City staff said.

But Stacey and other residents say the City has not posted signage indicating some spots are off limits.

“As a result, between me and my neighbours we have thousands of dollars in parking tickets that have been issued, it’s confusing because you don’t know where to park.”

“I pay hundreds of dollars for an on-street parking permit that is essentially worthless“

Speakers Corner reached out to the city about that and they sent a crew to investigate.

“There is some missing signage at the north leg of the intersection. This signage is required to delineate the end of the corner restriction and the beginning of the permitted parking area. City staff will correct this with new ‘No Parking’ signage in the coming weeks,” a City Spokesperson told Speakers Corner.

City staff pointed out they did not recommend the installation of the traffic signal, instead that was a mandate from Toronto City Council – an effort spearheaded by Coun. Brad Bradford who represents the Beaches.

“As such, staff did not have an opportunity to speak about the change’s impact on parking,” a City spokesperson said.

In fact, back in 2021, the City performed a road safety review study along Queen Street East, at the request of Coun. Bradford. Staff recommended no changes were needed; Bradford strongly disagreed with the findings.

“The staff report came back with a suggestion to take no action – a product of an outdated warrant process that more often than not results in the city turning a blind-eye to public safety. Staff’s proposal was not acceptable to me when residents were demanding a safer neighbourhood,” he told Speakers Corner.

Unhappy with the staff report, Coun. Bradford, through a council motion, directed staff to improve pedestrian safety by installing a pedestrian crossover at Queen and Victoria Park, and upgrading the pedestrian crossover at Queen and Silver Birch to a signalized intersection.

Bradford said he and his staff notified residents on two occasions.

“In July 2022, my team and I dropped letters to the homes in the neighbourhood letting them know about these upcoming changes.”

But in that letter, shared with CityNews, there is no mention of parking spots being taken away, a piece of information residents like Stacey say, would’ve made them speak up sooner.

“Now it’s done and we’re left scrambling to find a spot,” she said.

Bradford said his office has been in touch with residents unhappy about the changes but doubled down on his decision.

“In my view, these safety upgrades were worth the impact on a few on-street parking spaces – especially along a stretch of Queen Street that has historically had many pedestrian safety issues,” he said.

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