Supersized driveways popping up to fill parking pinch

A number of homeowners in the city have paved over their yards to increase their parking.

Parking is at a premium in many parts of the city so some northeast residents have taken matters into their own hands and expanded their driveways across their entire yards.

An aerial survey of the communities of Saddleridge and Martindale found almost 250 of the ‘unidriveways’, which did not come as a surprise to those living nearby.

“All I had to do is just go around the corner, down half a block, I had 12 and then there were 28 or so just in this close that were reported to the city and 30 some on the next street over,” said Greg Steiner.

The city says the first three metres of most yards in Calgary is actually a city right-of- way and can’t be developed without an easement.

“They cannot cement or pave over city property. At your curb, from your curb back, there’s a portion of that land that is owned by the city and then there is a portion of that land that is owned by the homeowner but yet the city has a right-of-way or an easement on it, so any kind of changing or obstruction of the ability to access the services and everything that’s definitely a cause for concern for us,” said Ward 3 Councillor Jim Stevenson. “You’d need permission and in most cases you’d need a development permit.”

Karnvir Gill also lives near a “unidriveway’ and says he can understand why it happens.

“Around this area it’s kind of a necessity because there’s a lot of people renting, not enough places to park the cars but you’re trading parking for the look of the street,” said Gill.

“Maybe they want to have additional parking or maybe they want to stop their neighbours from parking in front of their house, I don’t know what it is they’re doing but we’re taking action on it,” said Stevenson.

Councillor Stevenson says a committee has been assembled to look at the problem.

“I know in my ward, I likely have 100 plus,” he said. “There’s a committee that’s been set up across the different business units to work on it jointly so they’re working on it now.”

So far the city has sent out about 100 notices to homeowners with the expanded parking pads telling them that it’s illegal to make their entire yard into a parking lot and advising them that the concrete has to be removed.

“It is a big problem because, it’s spreading. I know it’s not just my ward now but through my ward, I’ve got a number of areas where we’re really concerned about it and the fact that people are paving or cementing over city property, that they have no right to do that, we take that pretty seriously. We have a right-of-way across their lawn, and that right-of-way has to be maintained as a surface that the water can go through and drain into and so on, so we’re taking action on it and there’s a cross-unit task force set up here within the city, because it affects a lot of different departments. It affects water, it affects roads, it affects parking, so some of the homeowners have been served notice that they have to remove them or we’ll go in and remove them and more of them will be served in the future,” said Stevenson.

The city says it only investigates after a complaint has been filed and it deals with “unidriveways’ on a case by case basis.

“If someone wants to, or is considering widening their driveway, they have to call the city. They can call 311 and they’ll direct them,” said Stevenson. “If your neighbour is doing this then definitely call 311 and report that, for sure.”

Some homeowners who talked to CTV News say they will appeal the order to remove their supersized driveways.

For more information on encroachment agreements, click HERE.

(With files from Kevin Green)