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Edmonton city staff say stringent requirements to provide parking are hurting business, leading to more vacant store fronts and making it harder for people to walk to neighbourhood destinations.

So what should they do? Step away and let the market decide?

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Buffalo became the first major North American city to abolish parking minimums citywide last month, opting for site-specific discussions that consider all forms of transportation instead.

Edmonton planners want to have the same kind of conversation, a public debate that could question deeply-held assumptions.

Maybe we don’t need parking attached to every business, said senior planner Anne Stevenson, getting ready to discuss her department’s work plan with councillors Wednesday. “When we were out talking with Edmontonians, some people said very clearly, ‘It’s a business decision. If a business thinks it can survive without parking, all the power to them.’ ”

Right now, Edmonton’s zoning bylaw has specific parking requirements for all kinds of uses, from banks and restaurants to religious institutions.

They’re based on a set of standards published by the Washington D.C.-based Institute of Transportation Engineers, said Stevenson. But that means many were set in the 1960s based on land use in suburban Florida.