A plan to switch to photo enforcement in Calgary's residential parking permit zones moved a step closer to reality after a contentious committee meeting Wednesday.

The plan calls for homeowners to register their vehicles' license plates so that neighbourhoods could then be scanned by the Calgary Parking Authority's camera-equipped cars.

The CPA issues over 34,000 permits to people who live in the letter-designated residential parking zones.

It says moving to an electronic system of registering plates and photo enforcement will be more efficient. It also expects to issue 30 per cent more tickets in residential permit zones.

'Big surprise'

Transportation and Transit Committee member Coun. Druh Farrell says more information should be made available before the change takes effect.

"This report came as a big surprise to me and to many of my constituents, who have many questions and I didn't even have the answers."

Coun. Shane Keating, however, says the change would not really be a big adjustment.

"They're not doing anything different than they already do except instead of giving you a little pass you put in your back window, they're going to record it by license plate," he said, rejecting the notion that the new system amounts to a cash grab.

"The cash grab to me was always a false argument, in my mind, because if you're breaking the law and you know you're breaking the law and you get caught, how can you say people are after your cash? You know, you shouldn't be doing it. End of story."

The committee voted to send the plan to council for final approval.