{"id":311316,"date":"2026-06-18T03:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T03:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311316\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T03:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T03:37:09","slug":"relief-for-small-businesses-after-st-petersburg-city-council-rejects-parking-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311316\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Relief’ for small businesses after St. Petersburg city council rejects parking changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Resident-only \"Resident-only Resident-only parking denied by city council<\/a> <\/p>\n

Parking continues to be a problem in St. Petersburg, especially in neighborhoods with popular restaurants and businesses. City leaders voted down a proposal that would have allowed specific neighborhoods outside of downtown to establish resident-only parking zones. FOX 13’s Blake DeVine reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Parking continues to be a problem in St. Petersburg<\/a>, especially in neighborhoods with popular restaurants and businesses.<\/p>\n

Rejecting parking restrictions <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

City leaders voted down a proposal that would have allowed specific neighborhoods outside of downtown to establish resident-only parking zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The decision came after St. Pete City Council members listened to public comments last week from both frustrated neighbors and worried business owners last Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ultimately, local officials decided against expanding the restricted zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parking struggles <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Travis Spivey, an employee at Violet Stone Pizzeria, routinely has to park a mile away from his job and walk because workers are barred from using the lot behind the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I have to park like a mile away from work, to park on the side of the street,” Spivey said. “We\u2019re not allowed to park in a lot behind the restaurant.”<\/p>\n

Richard Kanatzar was searching for a parking spot while making a delivery in St. Petersburg. He believes resident-only parking zones could help address the problem.<\/p>\n

“If you live here, and you can’t park outside your apartment or house, I think you should have residents only parking,” Kanatzar said.<\/p>\n

Protecting small businesses <\/p>\n

The other side:<\/p>\n

Across town, customers packed Wildflower Ice Cream\u00a0on Wednesday as employees served scoops of ice cream to help beat the heat.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Owner Steve McGarry\u00a0says limiting street parking would create challenges for his customers and employees.<\/p>\n

“It would be super impactful, not only for revenue,” he said. “For our employees to be able to get into the shop and get here on time.”<\/p>\n

Balancing neighborhood needs <\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

After hearing from both supporters and opponents, local leaders ultimately rejected the idea.<\/p>\n

City Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz says this decision was about finding a responsible approach to the city\u2019s parking challenges.<\/p>\n

“This is not about picking on people who have houses that are by businesses or businesses who are in the middle of a neighborhood,” she said. “This is about a city being responsible.”<\/p>\n

Past parking changes <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

This is not the first time parking has sparked debate in St. Pete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month, the city council unanimously voted to remove rules requiring new developments along the SunRunner corridor to provide a certain number of parking spaces.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story came from statements from St. Petersburg City Council, interviews with local business owners, interviews with residents and previous reporting on FOX 13.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Resident-only parking denied by city council Parking continues to be a problem in St. Petersburg, especially in neighborhoods…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":["post-311316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}