Lake Macquarie City Council has deliberated on a new parking strategy aimed at addressing the LGA's traffic woes.
Council has decided nine management studies will be conducted, looking at locations where measures like meters, new line markings and in-ground sensors should be installed.
Councillor Jason Pauling said the idea of enforcing paid parking in the area would spark some opposition from Lake Macquarie residents.
"That's a very different cultural change for Lake Macquarie," he said.
"It's been kicked around a fair bit over the past few years and generally has received a fair bit of opposition."
The parking studies will further investigate which sites are most congested in town centres such as Charlestown, Cardiff and Toronto, which have been identified as priorities.
"Each of the areas have their own unique characteristics and they probably do need different approaches to deal with parking and rotation," Cr Pauling said, "equally the various business chambers from each of the areas have different views as well, which makes it very difficult."
85% occupancy in Lake Macquarie's town centres was found to be the ideal amount of parking spaces being used - figures Council will aim to bring to fruition.
