[URBAN NOTE] On Percy Street in Toronto, a private street

[rfmcdonald]

Chris Bateman's blogTO post "What's it like to live on a private street in Toronto?" takes a look at Toronto's Percy Street, a private street south of Cabbagetown, by the Don and not too far from the waterfront.

Percy Street isn't like your street. This small stretch of Toronto road that runs south in a dog-legged kink from King Street to the Richmond Street ramp is one of the city's some 250 private streets and laneways. There's no gate, but the 35 residents here are just about as separate as it's possible to be in the city, and they like it like that.

"We call it the 'Republic of Percy,' it's kind of a joke," says Kali Hewitt-Blackie, co-owner of The Percy Bed & Breakfast at No. 6. "When you walk down the street it's like you're living in another land. It's not like Toronto, it's like something in England or someplace."

What really sets Percy apart is its lack of access to regular city services. There are no gates, barriers, or glaring warning signs, but snow, leaf, and garbage management are all arranged privately and paid for out of the resident's pockets. Even sewer maintenance costs are part of the experience shared by other private community residents like the home owners of Wychwood Park near St. Clair and Bathurst.

"We nominate people to do things," explains Hewitt-Blackie. We have a guy that's in charge of the bank account ... we have a little street signage committee, a street lighting committee, and we have one dealing with the rest of the things to do with Streetcar [the new condo that backs onto Percy.]"

Bateman has some interesting notes about the history of the street and its denizens.

See also this 2009 post at the Toronto Realty Blog and a 2011 National Post article