A report on the parking situation in downtown St. John's didn't go over well at a public meeting in the city Tuesday night.

A consultant from the IBI Group had been hired by St. John's city council and an association of downtown businesses, called the Downtown Development Commission, to look for ways to ease the parking shortage in the city's harbourfront core.

About 100 people attended Tuesday's meeting on the consultant's report. Many of them said they didn't like the idea of exempting new buildings from height restrictions so developers can include more parking in them.

"What I'm concerned about in your report, sir, is that you've put a Trojan horse in here: You've addressed parking, but you've also opened the possibility, that I believe goes well beyond your mandate, to eliminate the restriction on the height and bulk [of buildings] downtown," St. John's resident Chris Sharpe said.

The consultant who presented the report at the meeting defended his company's work.

"What we are asking is for the city to consider rather than making it a blanket exemption, making it a case by case exemption" from the city's height restriction, said the IBI Group's Don Brackley.

The consultant also suggested higher meter fees, bigger parking tickets and dropping free evening parking.

Many people at the meeting said they liked the consultant's suggestion that the city should improve public transit downtown to reduce the number of cars in the area.