The Ann Arbor City Council voted 10-0 tonight to continue a moratorium on installing new parking meters in residential areas.

"The installation of parking meters in residential neighborhoods represents a commercialization of those neighborhoods and a contributor to eroding an intact residential identity," reads the resolution passed by the council.

The resolution extends a previously enacted moratorium until Dec. 14 so city officials can continue to evaluate other ways of generating revenues. The resolution was sponsored by Council members Sandi Smith, Carsten Hohnke and Sabra Briere.

Smith said residents who live near proposed parking meters have a strong desire to permanently prohibit meters from encroaching on their neighborhoods.

The installation of new parking meters was identified before the start of the current fiscal year as a way of raising an extra $380,000 in the city's general fund budget. Some of the meters have been installed, while most were put on hold under a previous moratorium that ran through today.

Smith, Hohnke and Briere said budget measures have been identified and approved that will generate replacement revenue of $172,500. They also said new measures have been identified that will further close any anticipated gap to the general fund, and they'll continue to explore other options to raise revenues and cut costs.

The resolution approved tonight notes the city's Downtown Plan says economic vitality should be accommodated without destabilizing residential areas. It also states it's necessary to understand "the unique challenges the near downtown neighborhoods confront as they strive to maintain a high quality of residential life despite the impacts caused by their proximity to the commercial core."

Smith and Hohnke held a meeting with affected residents last week, where they asked for feedback on a range of budget-related ideas to see whether they thought those were worth exploring rather than installing parking meters. Smith said many of the meters are proposed to be installed in the old 4th Ward, 1st Ward and 5th Ward, including Germantown and to the west.

Ann Arbor resident Robert Snyder told council members tonight installing parking meters in his neighborhood would be an "intrusion." He said the city has already installed some meters on mostly residential streets, and he believes it sends a message that the area is being commercialized.

Ray Detter of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council said his organization has joined with eight neighborhood associations to oppose installing the parking meters to protect and preserve the integrity and scale of neighborhoods near downtown.

Council member Marcia Higgins, D-4th Ward, was absent from tonight's meeting.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.