A bill that would reduce, and in some instances eliminate, parking requirements for future development won a 9-0 approval from the Honolulu City Council on Wednesday, the last full Council meeting to be held before a major change in the nine-member lineup of the panel happens on Jan. 2.

Supporters of Bill 2 said there has been a compelling need to overhaul the city’s parking and loading regulations, and to shift the mindset of the car-centric public by providing incentives to consider alternate means of travel, including bicycling, walking and mass transit.

Council Zoning Chairman Ron Menor, who shepherded the bill through his committee, told colleagues that the measure “involved a difficult process of balancing environmental goals with impacts to housing costs, improved community design, streamlining the permitting process and promoting pedestrian walkability.”

Not everyone supported the final version of the bill, however. Environmental advocates including the Sierra Club of Hawaii and the Blue Planet Foundation, the Surfrider Foundation and the Ulupono Initiative were particularly unhappy with the decision to leave out language requiring that off-street parking stalls in multi-unit structures be prohibited from being sold as part of a “bundled” package for those purchasing condo units. Instead, the buyer of a condominium unit would need to rent or lease stalls separately through a management company or homeowners association.

Menor defended removing the unbundling requirement. “Strong concerns … were expressed by affordable housing developers that such a mandate could stymie the development of affordable housing projects in the future,” he said.

He noted that the head of one nonprofit housing company warned that requiring unbundling could result in financing problems for affordable rental projects.

Another concern raised by the environmental groups was a five-year stay on how far parking must be set back from a property line.

Both current Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Mayor-elect Rick Blangiardi spoke to the Council at the start of Wednesday’s meeting. Each spent much of their time praising outgoing members and, in particular, Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi, who’s been an elected official for the better part of the past four decades.

Near the end of the nearly seven-hour meeting, “holdover” Council members Brandon Elefante, Heidi Tsuneyoshi, Tommy Waters and Carol Fukunaga paid tribute and bid aloha to “departing” colleagues Alan Texeira, Kym Pine, Joey Manahan, Menor and Kobayashi.

In other action on a busy final day, the Council:

>> Gave final approval to Bill 75, which extends by one year, to four years, the time required for owners of high-rise buildings without sprinklers to complete a fire and life safety evaluation in lieu of installing sprinklers. Fukunaga and Kobayashi said the financial hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult for building owners to comply.

>> Sent back Resolution 20-323, giving the administration the OK to enter a 12-year contract for a private vendor to operate a limited number of hiking tours at Haiku Stairs, to the Economic Assistance and Revitalization Committee. Neighbors are concerned the plan won’t do enough to prevent trespassers from ravaging their properties .

>> Approved a committee report for the highly contentious 550-unit Ala Moana Plaza IPD-T permit (Resolution 20-315), but sent back to the Zoning, Planning and Housing Committee the larger issue of giving the go-ahead for a 40-story rental tower that has raised the ire of neighbors. Meanwhile, the city wants developer Brookfield Properties, owner of Ala Moana Center, to provide easements for existing and future transit stations.

>> Gave the second of three approvals necessary for hikes in fares and passes for TheBus, transit and the HandiVan in Bill 87 and Bill 89 despite strong reservations by some advocates of those with disabilities who raised concerns about the timing of the increases in light of the ongoing pandemic. The bills now go back to the Budget Committee.

>> Gave the second of three approvals for Bill 79, adopting a revision to the city’s Koolau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan that removes a controversial plan by HRI Inc. to put up housing on undeveloped land at the border of Laie and Malaekahana. The bill goes back to the Zoning, Planning and Housing Committee.

>> Gave final approval to Resolution 20-317, spending $21,000 more in funding to the private law firm of McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon to defend out­going Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro’s defense against the impeachment lawsuit brought against him by businessman Tracy Yoshimura. That raised the total approved to $114,000.