More than 450 Edmontonians will be scrambling over the next month to make new parking arrangements at the Century Park LRT park-and-ride.

Under the terms of a lease agreement between the City of Edmonton and Procura, Century Park's developer, land containing 454 paid, reserved parking stalls will be transferred back to the developer on March 1.

That means people who currently use those stalls can either make "make independent arrangements for monthly reserved parking in the landowner's private Park & Ride" or take their chances with the 390 free, first-come, first-served stalls managed by the city, said a news release.

According to Coun. Michael Walters, those free spots will be available for another year — then they, too, will be transferred to the developer.

"There's been a long-standing agreement in place that, as the developer there begins to build out the site … parking spaces [will] gradually transition from our operation to his," Walters told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM on Thursday.

"The park-and-ride there was always to be a temporary situation. … Ultimately at the end of 2020, which is the current lease agreement, he'll be the complete operator of the site from 2020 to 2025."

The parking woes at Century Park have existed for years. In late 2017, there were more than 2,500 people on a waiting list for the city's paid, reserved spots, and the expected wait time on that list was in excess of four years.

That waiting list is no longer in effect.

Walters said the city is working hard to improve transit service in south Edmonton.

Money that has been budgeted will allow design work to begin for a new LRT station near Harry Ainlay high school, which should reduce the number of vehicles coming to Century Park from north of Anthony Henday Drive, he said.

As well, he said, the ongoing bus network redesign will be looking for ways to improve transit options to get commuters to the Century Park LRT station.

"You'll get better bus service to the LRT which is ultimately the best way to distribute commuters from their communities to the LRT. Better, in my view, than parking," he said.

Walters stressed that the city parking stalls were never meant to be a permanent solution and that the developer will be using that land to create an "urban village, transit-oriented development."

He added: "That spot has always been fixed for change, and it's happening, and it's a transition, and it's tough for folks that have spots there now."