NARRAGANSETT — The Town Council and Gilbane Development Co. agreed last night to seek a solution for some of the parking woes in the Pier area, but they made no headway on a larger issue: How should Gilbane move forward with the next phase of its commercial redevelopment in the area?

The parking issue, sparked by the recent opening of Trio, an upscale 275-seat restaurant on Kingstown Road, had the two sides going back and forth during a special workshop until Gilbane agreed to talk with the people running Trio and see if they can live with fewer designated spaces.

At present, the new restaurant has more than 70 parking spots, all of them on Gilbane land but many near the town library and long used by library patrons when the small town-owned lot outside the library was full.

The sudden appearance of Trio-only signs in a large lot between the restaurant and the library angered some residents last month and sparked a petition calling for the town to limit on-street parking in front of the library to two hours.

The town has since determined that there was already a two-hour limit in place from May 15 to Sept. 15, but Town Manager Jeffry Ceasrine said Trio risks losing business during the off season if year-round residents are angry because they can no longer park near the library.

“Strategically, I think it’s a huge mistake,” he said.

Robert Gagliardi, Gilbane’s director of property management, said Trio insisted on ample parking when it agreed to come to Narragansett, but Town Solicitor Mark A. McSally said a representative of the restaurant told him that having designated spaces was not an issue.

The two sides agreed to meet again on Thursday to see what comes of Gilbane’s talks with Trio.

The restaurant and the nearby Belmont Market that opened last year are part of a commercial redevelopment the council insisted on when it approved Gilbane’s plans to transform 88 Pier-area apartments into plush condominiums and build 11 additional condos.

The agreement between the town and Gilbane also calls for the company to undertake a second-phase commercial redevelopment, which the council hoped would result in mixed-use commercial buildings with apartments above.

Council members say they were shocked two months ago to hear Gagliardi tell them the housing portion is not feasible given the parking shortage in the Pier area.

They questioned that assertion last night with help from McSally, who noted that one paragraph in the 15-page agreement calls for the three buildings in question to be demolished and rebuilt, not just renovated as the company had suggested. McSally also said that under the town’s zoning, Gilbane actually has a surplus of about 38 parking spaces for its commercial buildings in the Pier area. He acknowledged, however, that with spillover from other businesses, the company could argue that it lacks enough spaces.

Robert Gilbane, chairman and CEO of Gilbane Development Co., said after the workshop that the company made its parking concerns clear last July, when it submitted a conceptual plan for the phase-two commercial redevelopment to the council. The plan links phase two to the town moving its police and fire stations and opening up more parking in the area.

“We’ve tried to say, guys, you need to look at the practical aspects of this,” Gilbane said.

McSally and Handrigan agreed after the meeting that parking has always been a concern, but not to the extent that Gilbane was expected to scale back the next phase unless the town took such major actions.

Councilwoman Krista J. Garrett made a similar assertion during the workshop, saying the company appears to be “using the parking now as an excuse not to ever get to phase two.”

Gilbane and Gagliardi said the company is also limited by leases with businesses in the three buildings, at least one of which extends to 2019.

redgar@projo.com