Don't Rip Up Your Driveway in North York
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05. 8.07
We last visited Franke James when she decided to do the "hardest thing" and get rid of her car. Logically she doesn't need a big paved driveway to her garage any more so she determined to tear it up and replace it with a more environmentally benign material that would absorb water and reduce the urban heat island effect.
Wrong. Even though the City of North York was merged into Toronto nine years ago, its archaic old rules still apply, and every house must have a driveway paved with concrete, asphalt or brick. Even Turfstone and other permeable pavers are illegal, the municipality thinks them a tripping hazard.
Whenever we hear that Toronto wants to be considered a Green City, something like this pops up to demonstrate how sincere its commitment really is. The clock is running- how many years will it take to change this bylaw? Video at ::City TV
"every house must have a driveway paved with concrete, asphalt or brick"?!?!
WTF? Why do I even have to have a "driveway"? What if I don't have anything to drive thgrough the "driveway"? :-P
Simple.
Use Porous Pavement (PP). Better than regular pavement and cost about the same or less when full market costs are included - larger storm drains (enclosed fresh water streams), pollution, groundwater recharge, slip and fall, ...
Some EU countries are laying 100% PP on roadways.
Not to sound silly here, but instead of ripping up the driveway, couldn't she just put several wide pots of grass and tall flowers/topiaries (sp?) in an arrangement on the driveway? She doesn't have a car, but the next owner may drive a car and need the driveway and this would make it Really Difficult to sell. It wouldn't do any good to tear one (driveway) up if someone is just going to dig up her new eco-driveway lay another concrete/paved driveway down. As far as the turfstone goes, someone will still have to cut it and most will use a gas/electric something to cut it. In addition to that, they are a tripping hazard, by experience of both me and my kids. (You can be a klutzy greenie.) The grass pots are not only beautiful when left to grow tall, but can be trimmed easily by hand with a garden scissor. I am certain there are aesthetically pleasing alternatives for this that would leave something practical for the next owners as well.
This is interesting. A couple of years ago, we ripped out our long asphalt driveway and put in a much, much smaller concrete "ribbon" driveway (two strips of concrete, one for each set of wheels). I realize that this isn't the same as *no* driveway, but there was no fuss here.
Concrete can be broken up and used in a way similar to flagstone. Layed out broken up pieces. You put them level to the ground, and there is space between each peice where grass/flowers etc can be grown. This will also allow the next owner to drive on the area. This is what i did with my my driveway and it looks and works great.
I appreciate Treehugger writing about our driveway problem! We want to have more healthy green space -- eco-friendly driveways are happening all over the world. Why is North York so anti-environmental? Our existing interlock driveway is bad for lots of reasons including storm water runoff, which picks up toxic pollutants such as motor oil, anti-freeze, and pesticides and washes them into the sewers. North York insists on restricting driveway surfaces to concrete, asphalt or interlock, for fear of getting sued by pedestrians (e.g. by people tripping over grass between pavers). And yet, as the climate crisis worsens, the day may come when they are faced with much bigger lawsuits for storm water runoff damaging the environment. A Google search shows that this is already happening in the United States. Here is one example: Runoff issues flow to court
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18157909/
Does anyone still park on the street? You don't HAVE to have a driveway, even if you have a car.
That being said, I wouldn't rip it up. It takes energy and money to do this, and the next person to own the house may well pour more concrete. Turfstone is IMO kinda ugly, and may well be a tripping hazard.
"motor oil, anti-freeze, and pesticides and washes them into the sewers" - if you don't have a car and don't use pesticides, what does it matter?
One place that pavers/gravel/groundup clam shells are very useful are beach communities, where runoff and flooding are big issues, and they actually limit the amount of concrete you can lay per area of property (included foundation).
We have a gravel driveway, it looks better than tarmac etc and helps prevent flooding. It also deters burglars: they know you can hear them.
Furthermore, if fuel should ever become so ludicrously expensive that we 4 give up our one car, said gravel expanse can easily and painlessly be converted into more garden...but then again in this particular York (York, UK) people aren't so sue-happy!
"Our existing interlock driveway is bad for lots of reasons including storm water runoff, which picks up toxic pollutants such as motor oil, anti-freeze, and pesticides and washes them into the sewers."
If you don't even have a vehicle to begin with, then where is all this phantom motor oil and antifreeze coming from? Besides, from my experience with one of my own vehicles, a 20-year old pickup, no fluids leak from it at all. If you find your vehicle is gushing all this motor oil and antifreeze on the ground, it's probably broken, and you might want to think about repairing it!
Just a suggestion that may work for TO. Not perfect by any means, but maybe a happy middle ground.
http://www.drivablegrass.com/
I am a Civil Engineer by trainig. Forest Engineering Syracuse Univ. So I was able to apply my knoledge of how to get natural gradual drainage down the entire 160 foot length of the driveway. It gets gently watered every time it rains, not washed out as some bad designes tend to do. I have nurtured my driveway which has a crushed rock pea gravel base. It is gradually gone green with invasive chick pea then drought resistant grasses. After a very patient decade, it is now bank to bank with beautiful grasses. My driveway can take it all, even 18 wheelers without damage. I use a snowblower to clear it in the winter, and mow it extra close in the summer. Looks like an old English lane. I am so glad to see others who purposely are taking up this trend.