My name is Robert Ulicki, and I will outline the complex morass of regulations, committees, expert reports, tribunals and licensing requirements I am navigating to create a day care.
In July 2016 my wife and I purchased a mixed-use property located in Cabbagetown, a residential neighbourhood in downtown Toronto that began gentrifying in the 1970s. It is an ideal location for a day care as it is near families, parks, bicycle infrastructure and public transit.
In May 2017 we applied for a zoning certificate. The city responded four months later telling us that we needed site plan approval that would cost around $100,000. Thankfully, the city was wrong about the application of its own policies but indicated that variances to the zoning bylaw would be required. We applied to a committee of five people for the variances to the zoning. They denied us. We appealed that decision to a municipal tribunal. From the application to the committee to a final decision from the tribunal, it took three and a half years and cost $100,000 for variances to a zoning bylaw.
Why did it take so long? First, we were forced to respond to opposition from a handful of wealthy and connected neighbours who hired a Bay Street law firm, a major engineering firm and a senior land use planner to argue that day care did not belong in their midst.
Second, the local councillor at the time sided with the loudest and the angriest neighbours and asked the city to pay for lawyers and hire an outside traffic consultant to further oppose us before this tribunal. Initially, two days were set aside for the hearing which commenced in August 2018. Well, two days turned into six, then eight, then 12 and, finally, 14 days over two years. Fortunately, the decision was in our favour.
When you cut through all the drama and the posturing, the primary issue was setting aside parking spaces on a public road to facilitate [Technical difficulty—Editor] and picking up their children. Every home in the vicinity has laneway parking, but some residents either opt to landscape the rear of their backyard or own two cars and want a cheap spot to park on the street. They pay a paltry 55¢ per day, or $200 per year, for the privilege to park 24-7 on public roads in downtown Toronto. Residents tried to fiercely guard this privilege with the encouragement of the councillor at the time. All this happened when there's a genuine lack of day care in the city and a multitude of policies aimed at making Toronto less reliant on cars.
You would think that it ended there. No. Some residents and the city did not like the tribunal's decision and asked the appeal body to review it, so we got back into the queue. We waited another five months for a hearing and received a decision in January 2021. Once again, we prevailed on the simple argument that caring for kids trumps parking cars.
Where do we stand today? In some ways we are closer, but still far, as we have several layers to cut through. The appeal body that approved the application does not have the authority to amend street parking rules; only city council does. Yes, the same city that sent the lawyer and the traffic engineer to fight us will decide if we can operate. In the end, approving our application is a political decision on parking.
We have hope. The former city councillor who opposed the application lost in the last municipal election. The new councillor, Kristyn Wong-Tam, is a fierce advocate for families and day cares. With the benefit of a 32-page decision that unequivocally supports our application, we remain hopeful that the concerns of our opponents will be laid to rest.
Since the decision, the city's transportation department is prepared to recommend a provision of intermittent parking spaces for pickup and drop-off. We can now hope that logic, fairness, evidence and policies that support day cares more than street parking prevail before city council.
Thank you.