The city of Edmonton will do further studies about how changing rules for on-site parking may impact on-street parking in different parts of the city.

Council's urban planning committee is asking city planners to take a deeper dive after councillors spent the majority of a meeting Tuesday discussing the results of a two-year parking review.

The review leans in favour of the city reducing parking requirements and adopting a more open policy, which would leave business owners, homeowners and developers to determine how many parking spots they provide.

That could influence parking behaviour elsewhere, possibly prompt people to park on the street more, councillors said.

Coun. Aaron Paquette and Mike Nickel can't see the same rules working in different zones.

"We have to tread very very carefully," Coun. Mike Nickel said. "Neighbourhood by neighbourhood it's going to be different."

Paquette said the parking bylaw is likely not going to be a one-size-fits-all policy.

Thwarting small business due to parking requirement feels exclusionary - Katy Ingraham

"Maybe we have to look at different rules for different areas of the city — downtown is going to look a lot different from Claireview.

Coun. Tim Cartmell proposed the idea to study the impacts for on-street parking.

The rest of the committee supported the motion, which also asks city planners to report back in October with draft amendments to the bylaw using either a one-step or a phased-in approach, considering different zones: downtown/core; commercial/industrial; suburban residential; institutional.

The committee heard from 16 people — business owners, builders, infill developers and community members showed up at the meeting to share their perspective.

Three options outlined in the review included eliminating current minimum requirements, imposing maximum requirements and opening parking up to a free-market, allowing businesses and homeowners to decide how many spots to provide.

Nearly all the speakers support the open option parking.

Katy Ingraham, co-owner of the Cartago pub in Forest Heights, told the committee about her struggles in trying to get a development permit to open a deli and cafe next door.

Under existing bylaws, the business didn't meet minimum parking requirements.

The city denied their application.

Katy Ingraham, co-owner of Cartago restaurant in Forest Heights, told councillors about the struggle to get a development permit without providing parking. (Scott Neufeld/CBC)

Ingraham appealed the decision to the subdivision and development appeal board last summer, at which point the board agreed they could go ahead.

The pub owners were asked to do parking studies and Ingraham said they spent more on those than they have on some equipment in their establishments.

"These are the impediments that we face when we're trying to open a restaurant and should parking be the major thing that impedes small business in Edmonton."

She accused council of not having the courage to "steward their own visions." She said the city encourages density in mature neighbourhoods and invests in bike infrastructure, yet requires "space for cars in order to open a deli and a coffee shop."

"Thwarting small business due to parking requirement feels exclusionary," said Ingraham.

Currently, the only parking available in the area is on-street.

They hope to open Fleisch Delikatessen in June.

Ian O'Donnell, executive director of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, encouraged the city to improve parking downtown and address the surplus spots in parkades.

"We're hearing that many parkades are at 50 per cent utilization, even on game nights," he said. "We need to ensure that street parking is for higher turnover areas and higher turnover uses."

O'Donnell suggests the city cut back on the maximum time for on-street parking from five hours to two.

Nickel urged caution in eliminating minimum requirements for places like hospitals and universities where visitors are already hogging on-street parking, pointing to areas around the Grey Nuns Hospital.

"Employees are coming into the neighbourhood, ploughing through the neighbourhood so there's no residential parking left," he said.

"That institution probably might have to change if we put in these rules, so there are some big effects here from some small changes."