Toronto street parking tightens as new multiplexes multiply in Davenport

Patricia Westerhof lives on a broad street in Dufferin-Dupont but increasingly drives blocks away from her home to find street parking. As more multiplexes sprout in her neighbourhood, she and her husband face real inconvenience—especially at night or when carrying groceries and visiting elderly relatives.

"I'm all for increasing density when necessary, but I think parking and traffic needs to be part of the decision-making process," Westerhof said. "The multiplexes are a whole new complication that hasn't been thought through."

At city hall's last session before the summer break on Thursday, July 30, Ward 9—Davenport Coun. Alejandra Bravo passed a motion aimed at easing the street parking crunch while encouraging public transit use. The motion proposes limiting the number of street permits issued to each new multiplex that's built. Currently, the city's street parking permit regulations set no limit on permits per address; applicants only need a driver's license, vehicle registration, and proof of occupancy. Street parking permits are issued every six months and cost about $165 per vehicle, per term.

"We can't make more road space, we can't invent more parking space, and it puts a huge amount of pressure on the community," Bravo said. She suggested it may be reasonable for the city to decide that not everyone who lives in a multiplex in future gets a street parking permit.

Davenport has become the city's most active ward for multiplex construction. In 2023, council allowed multiplexes to be built without special zoning permissions anywhere in Toronto to ease the housing crisis. A staff report from May last year noted that the five most active wards for multiplex building permits cluster on the western side of Toronto and East York, with the most activity in Ward 9. About half of the 452 building permits issued for multiplexes city-wide fall within western Toronto and East York.

Bravo's motion calls on staff to study ways of limiting permits across the entire city, not just Davenport. She said it will be up to staff to determine what limits make sense. The city has not said how many new multiplexes have actually been built in the Dufferin-Dupont area in the past year or two, nor how many street permits per multiplex Bravo envisions as reasonable.