The City of St. John’s has approved three more housing applications with fewer parking spaces than required.

Requests for so-called “parking relief” have ramped up in the rush to create much-needed housing through the feds’ accelerator fund.

The latest approvals involve single spaces as residents convert to apartments and other add-on units.

That’s led to concerns about a parking crunch in driveways, forcing some to eventually park illegally on roads and front lawns.

But relief has also been sought and rejected for much larger developments.

That doesn’t sit well with Councillor Ron Ellsworth.

“We as council supported parking relief as a general statement and in the last few weeks we’ve used it as an excuse not to approve some projects because we’re getting pushback from the immediate neighbourhood,” he said. “I understand the frustrations but we do have regulatory pieces in place to protect property owners … (and) to enforce illegal parking, or parking on lawns.”

The city is encouraging residents to report incidents of illegal parking, such as parking on lawns, which all agreed is not only an eyesore, but can also impede snowclearing operations.