Residents who want to widen driveways push for clear, fair rules in Mississauga

Mississauga residents who want to widen their driveways hope city officials soon give them more guidance and clear rules so they know what they can and cannot do when completing the home improvement project.

The matter has been discussed by city councillors and staff on several occasions since early 2022, but no new report on residential driveway widening rules has yet been produced.

Ward 5 Coun. Carolyn Parrish said at Wednesday’s meeting of general committee residents want more information.

“People want to widen their driveways because of the kids, because of basement apartments…,” the councillor said, adding one thing in particular residents want to know is how they can do so in an environmentally friendly way.

Andrew Whittemore, Mississauga’s planning and building commissioner, said his staff will study the matter further and bring a report back to council.

The somewhat thorny issue has prompted discussion in Mississauga over the past couple of years, including how best to apply driveway widening rules so they’re fair to everyone.

With “thousands of illegally widened driveways” across the city, Mississauga officials were tasked earlier to look at city bylaws with an eye toward changing regulations in order to make a level playing field for all moving forward.

Of particular concern to Parrish, who first floated the idea of revamping Mississauga’s driveway widening bylaws during a discussion at council in May 2022, is that the illegally widened driveways exist pretty much “safe from prosecution” and are usually only investigated if there’s a complaint.

Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko said earlier the issue has been particularly “problematic” in Port Credit and Lakeview, areas he represents.

A number of homes that have widened driveways have seen “a lot of basement flooding and other issues,” he said at a meeting last April, adding things could get messier before the city figures things out. “This is going to become a bigger issue as we go, for sure…a real dog’s breakfast.”

Dasko shared with fellow councillors at the time a photo of a case in Port Credit, a heritage district, he noted, in which a homeowner had paved their entire front lawn to add parking space.

Describing the example, in which a mature tree stands in the midst of the paved addition, as “the dark side of all this stuff,” the councillor added, “Words don’t give justice to this and from my understanding, their plans were to go pave over the backyard as well.”