evan4ever asks the Neighbourhood Almanac Concierge about parking options in our neighbourhood, specifically if he can get front pad parking for his home.

An older neighbourhood like ours comes with challenges such as limits to parking at home.  Much of Riverdale & Greektown enjoy back lanes with rear access to properties that accomodate one or two vehicles.  If only that standard had been hewn to throughout the 1940s and 1950s as housing grew north and east.

Some of us get by with "mutual driveways", but it has its limits.  Even some private driveways are so narrow that at best you can get a compact car to the back yard.  But those homes without either a lane or a driveway of any width, the only alternatives are: on-street parking permits, or pad parking.

(Another good option to consider is living car-free or car-lite by joining Autoshare.  There are about 20 cars available in our neighbourhood already.  We will explore this in more detail another time.)

On-street parking permits are good for 6 or 12 months at a time for residents of the street, but subject to availability.  Many streets in our neighbourhood have waiting lists, so getting an on-street permit is not guaranteed.  Also, the monthly cost is graduated, meaning that less need translates into greater costs.  If your home has no parking on the property the cost is currently $11.95 plus GST; if you have one parking spot but need on-street for a second vehicle the cost is $29.88 plus GST; if you want an on-street spot and already have 2 spots on your property, the cost will be $41.84 plus GST.  (Interestingly, these permits are only currently available in old Toronto, East York, and York.)

Creating a parking pad in front of your home is very restricted now compared to pre-amalgamation.  In fact, the point is moot if you are talking about Ward 30 (south of Danforth Avenue) as new pad parking in the ward is impossible.

The city refers to this as "front yard parking", although in real estate ads and rental ads you will often see the local term "pad" parking.  If you think your property is a candidate for this type of parking, be aware that there are ratios and restrictions you must comply with since 2007.  It is restricted due to issues such as rainwater run-off,, urban heat island effect, diminished streetscapes, and inadvertent blocking of sidewalks.

The requirements need to be checked on a case-by-case basis with the city, but the most common type is a lot with a frontage from 6 to 15 m in width.  Here, you must maintain at least 50% of the front yard as landscaped open space (75% of which must be "soft" landscaping supporting vegetation growth).