Berry said the council's decision meant that carparks in a large area of the downtown would continue to be used for all-day commuter parking.
''They tend to forget that retailers have been struggling due to accessibility issues. We needed a quick fix for the CBD, and Mainstreet thought this was the best way forward.''
He viewed last week's decision as a compromise between council staff who wanted the status quo to continue and the wishes of the majority of Mainstreet members who were surveyed on the issue.
''It would have been good to have been consulted on this because it affected our members,'' he said.
Berry said parking pressures had multiplied in the past couple of years and Mainstreet wanted easier access to the CBD for visitors, shoppers and people doing business. The situation would get even more difficult with new developments.
The parking changes were brought to the council as a notice of motion late last year by councillor Terry Molloy. He initially suggested a two-hour parking limit, but Mainstreet succeeded in getting three hours.
Berry said Mainstreet felt that a two-hour parking limit would have been too tight whereas three hours allowed someone to have lunch and see a movie.
Mayor Greg Brownless said the CBD's retail core was the area where people tried to find a park when shopping.
''Let's see how it goes and then tweak it if we have to,'' he said.
Brownless said the council had fulfilled most of Mainstreet's requirements and he did not see it as a compromise.
''Mainstreet got a pretty good win.''
Larry Baldock told last week's meeting that restricting three-hour parking to the retail core was ''a bit minimalist''.
On Monday, he told the Bay of Plenty Times he had not been aware that retailers wanted restricted parking across the whole of the CBD.
Baldock thought that restricted parking could have gone as far as Harington St, but he was not sure this would have won the council's support.
He said 400 council staff would be shifting out of the CBD to new temporary offices in Cameron Rd. ''It will free up more parking in CBD fringe areas.''
Molloy said on Monday the three-hour parking area could have gone further out. ''We'll see how it goes.''
He floated a suggestion at a committee meeting that the council needed to understand exactly what the difficulties and tensions would be over the next five years as significant developments took shape in the CBD, like 2 Devonport Rd, the Farmers redevelopment and the civic heart project.
''What will the pressures be and what can we do to mitigate them.''
