SOUTH PORTLAND – It now appears Knightville business owners upset over plans to redraw on-street parking will not get an official chance to try and sway the City Council.

In a workshop session Monday, councilors fell 4-3 in favor of replacing the angled spaces currently on the south side of Ocean Street, between C and E streets, with parallel parking on both sides, once current reconstruction is complete on water and sewer lines. At the time, City Manager Jim Gailey said councilors would have to conduct a formal vote on the matter at a future business meeting. However, in an email Thursday, Gailey said no vote will occur, adding that he was, “Sorry for the confusion.”

“The Council will need to take no action for the parking plan as designed,” wrote Gailey. “If the Council opted for angled and a one-way [traffic flow], then there would be action needed.”

The parallel parking concept was first introduced publicly at a Jan. 23 council workshop. Downtown merchants quickly rose up to decry the plan, citing fears that customers would abandon the Knightville district rather than deal with the presumed difficulty of parallel parking.

A month later, the city introduced an alternative that would have retained the angled parking spots, albeit reconfigured to match current zoning rules. However, because of plans to widen the sidewalks to better accommodate snowplow equipment – the driving force behind the parallel plan – Ocean Street would have been limited to one-way, northbound traffic. After a lengthy workshop session last March, councilors decided not to decide, noting that they have until construction is complete this fall to decide how to stripe the new street.

Only about a dozen people attended Monday’s council workshop. Tom Smaha, owner of the Legion Square Market, said that was because most merchants in the Knightville district has “thought it was a done deal,” to retain the angled parking.

On Friday, Michael Drinan, owner of real estate firm Drinan Properties, said he and some of his fellow downtown merchants are “really up in arms” over the council decision to revert back to Plan A.

“It’s very surprising. I’m very, very disappointed,” he said. “I thought we presented a good and valid case. Nothing had changed since then, but this city council seems determined to thwart us in our efforts down here.”

At a city council workshop session Monday, City Manager Jim Gailey uses a large satellite photograph to point out possible parking arrangements for Ocean Street.