The City of Moose Jaw is moving forward with the next step in their goal of finding a solution to parking on narrow streets.

Going back to 2015, the city has been trying to solve the issue of emergency vehicles not being able to navigate some streets when vehicles are parked on both sides.

Thursday night (February 2) the city held an information session at Saskatchewan Polytechnic's Palliser campus for residents affected by any potential change in parking procedure in their neighbourhoods.

City officials invited residents to a "come and go"-style session from 5:00-7:00 p.m., with some members of Administration on hand to answer questions related to the proposed Parking Permit Pilot Program that would see only those with valid parking permits able to park in the affected areas.

The city map of the affected areas in the pilot program

However, some residents expressed concern over how the meeting was run, saying they believed there would be more formal presentations made by city representatives, and an official "Question and Answer" session similar to a Town Hall meeting.

"I think there might have been some confusion," acknowledged Communications Manager Carol Reynolds-Wittman.

Aside from that issue, Reynolds-Wittman feels the session was useful in gaining more feedback.

"To date we've received 62 surveys from residents by email and in person, and we received 92 completed surveys (Thursday) night (at the information session)," said Reynolds-Wittman. "That's about 15 per cent of the property owners in the trial area."

She says she has "been tasked with going through the surveys" and will "compile the information..into a summary (that) will go to council and they'll decide how and if to proceed on any parking permit program."

Several Sask Polytech students attended the information session to express concerns over what they feel is a lack of affordable parking in the area.  There are paid parking lots on the Palliser campus site, but many students choose to park on the nearby streets, contributing to the traffic issues.  The proposed city program that would allow residents to purchase parking permits would exclude students.

Reynolds-Wittman also stated that they've "made a renewed commitment" to continue discussions with Saskatchewan Polytechnic on trying to find a solution.

Reynolds-Wittman also wanted to clear up another issue that arose from Thursday's event.

"I was at the sign-in table and glanced over and noticed there was a stack of flyers there that.. the city had not issued (and) was not condoning. We had made the arrangement with Sask Polytech to use the facility and the lounge. I wasn't asked permission to distribute these types of flyers or anything."

The flyers were for a campaign by SGEU to "End Parking Fees" at Sask Polytech.

A copy of the unauthorized SGEU flyer that showed up at the meeting Thursday