The St. Petersburg City Council voted unanimously Thursday to remove longstanding parking requirements for businesses and residential developments along the city’s SunRunner corridor — a move supporters say will encourage growth and transit use, but critics fear could worsen parking shortages in nearby neighborhoods.

The ordinance applies to properties within the city’s SunRunner Bus Rapid Transit overlay district, created to encourage transit-oriented development along the bus line that launched in 2022. Under the change, developments built within the overlay district will no longer be required to provide a minimum number of parking spaces.

According to the ordinance, the overlay’s purpose is to “support the SunRunner BRT system by encouraging additional permitted uses, increased development intensity, and transit-oriented development standards beyond what is permitted in the underlying zoning.”

Supporters argue the change will help transform SunRunner stops into more walkable destinations filled with apartments, offices, restaurants and retail.

“It should have happened five years ago,” said Garrett Marple with Activate St. Pete. “We’ll see each station of the SunRunner become its own destination where there are things to do, offices, jobs, apartments, restaurants to eat at.”

Marple said parking minimums are outdated and discourage dense, transit-friendly development.

“The parking mandates are kind of a junk science,” he said. “There’s no real true science to like five parking spaces per tanning bed, or like 13 spaces per gas station.”

But the proposal also drew opposition from residents worried that eliminating parking requirements could push overflow parking into surrounding neighborhoods.

“We are concerned about the impact in our neighborhood based on the reduction or elimination of parking,” said Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association President Nicholas Igneri during public comment.

Igneri warned that developments built without parking near SunRunner stations could worsen congestion in neighborhoods like Historic Kenwood.

“We already see this on weekends, and it will get much worse with the proposed density increase,” he said.

Council members said they weren’t as concerned and believe most developers will still include parking in most proposals in certain parts of the city.

The ordinance now heads to Ken Welch for final approval before taking effect.