Residential streets across three wards could soon see a widespread expansion of on-street permit parking — without the need for polling or further public consultation.

This month, Toronto council will consider a recommendation from the Toronto and East York Community Council that would see changes to the rules governing on-street overnight parking in neighbourhoods in Parkdale-High Park, Davenport and Toronto Danforth.

The plan would mean that on certain streets, the usual rules for establishing permit-parking would not apply. There would be no need for further public consultations, and there would be no need for a poll of residents on those streets to determine whether they would have permit parking there.

Effectively, it would mean that streets currently without permit parking in place (where cars are technically not allowed to park for more than three hours) would require paid parking permits — allowing residents and their guests to park vehicles on the streets provided they apply and pay for a parking permit.

In Parkdale-High Park, a total of 25 kilometres of roads could be converted — mostly in the western part of the ward that was in the old Ward 13. In Davenport, 10 kilometres of roads could be so converted.

On Dec. 3, the Toronto and East York Community Council heard from Parkdale-High Park residents who wanted to keep their streets as they were — with only the seldom enforced three-hour limit rule covering on-street parking.

“We do not want permit parking on my street nor in our immediate neighbourhood,” said Nelson Wong, a homeowner in the Dundas Avenue West/Jane Street area near Couch Avenue. “This has always been a unique area without permit parking. Lots of natural terrain, with kids playing in the streets. Every house has two or three parking spaces in the driveway. If it were allowed for permit parking, it would compromise our outside living space.”

Local Parkdale-High Park Coun. Gord Perks heard from several community members complaining that the matter was being rammed through, but joined Davenport Coun. Ana Bailão and Toronto-Danforth Coun. Paula Fletcher in opting for the new, streamlined process.

Perks said the current patchwork of permit parking in his ward meant those streets without permit parking were effectively “lawless.”

Perks said with only one street in that part of the ward having permit parking, people on a waitlist for that street were simply parking where they pleased.

“I have had people come up and say to me, ‘I park on the street overnight and I pay the parking tickets because we don’t get ticketed that often,’” said Perks.

“So instead of having an informal sort of lawless approach to which we would permit people who don’t live in the neighbourhood to park overnight, we now get a regularized system that is fair, transparent and serves the needs of the local community.”

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David Nickle is a reporter with toronto.com. Reach him via email: dnickle@toronto.com