A recent Toronto City Council approval to develop the commuter parking lot at Yonge Street and Wilson Avenue has some residents concerned about dwindling parking space. The lot, across from the York Mills subway station, is owned by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and has 260 parking spaces, largely used by commuters. In July 2010 it was announced that Build Toronto, the city’s arm’s-length real estate agency, would be turning most of the space into an eight-storey, mixed-use office building.

The plan was approved by North York Community Council in June 2010, with some revisions, including a reduced height of seven stories.

Now the motion has been passed at city council as well and, according to Build Toronto, construction is slated to begin sometime in 2012.

The new plan calls for up to 370 spaces of underground parking, but some residents are still worried.

“They tell councillors they are going to build however many parking spaces and the councillors think, ‘Oh wonderful,’” said Mitchell Shnier, director of the nearby Yonge Ridge Homeowners Association. “But the reality is there’s going to be 1,000 people working in that building, and they’re going to need every one of those spaces.”

A parking lot at 4155 Yonge St. is also slated for development, as is the city lot behind the nearby Miller Tavern. Glen Thomas, president of the Toronto Parking Authority, said the lot is “underused.”

Shnier called the potential lack of parking spaces in the area “troubling.”

Natalie Pastuszak, a spokesperson for Build Toronto, said their traffic study shows approximately 2,400 public parking spaces in the area, and in addition, Build Toronto is “committed to providing publically accessible parking within the project.”

Currently, the building does not have an anchor tenant established.