Review of Parking Requirements for New Development

Requirements for automobile and bike parking in newly erected or enlarged buildings are identified in the city-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013. On January 19, 2021, Planning and Housing Committee (PH20.4) asked staff to review these requirements to better align them with the objectives of the City’s Official Plan. The Review was guided by the principle that parking standards should allow only the maximum amount of automobile parking reasonably required for a given use and minimums should be avoided except where necessary to ensure equitable access, such as for accessible parking or in areas which would be difficult to serve with transit.

The initial phase of the review focused on automobile and bicycle parking. On July 22, 2022 (PH29.3), new regulations related to automobile parking and bicycle parking came into force.

Following the conclusion of the initial phase, Planning and Housing Committee directed staff to continue work on the review of parking requirements in the Zoning By-law as part of the City-Wide Parking Strategy, which included a review of accessible parking requirements, a review of bicycle parking requirements, and the establishment of a parking monitoring program.

The second phase of the Parking Review concluded with new regulations for accessible parking and bicycle parking which are now in force and effect for complete applications received after March 31, 2025 (PH18.3).

Following the conclusion of the second phase, Planning and Housing Committee directed staff to review visitor parking requirements in the Zoning By-law. This review aims to identify areas in the city with inadequate visitor parking. Staff are expected to conduct public consultation on a potential Zoning By-law amendment and report back to City Council in the fourth quarter of 2025.