How serious is parking space compliance issue? Should I panic since city seems “chill” about it.
we are buying a commercial retail space that according to the City code it will require 150 parking spaces which is ridiculous requirement. We currently have 60 spaces and impossible to get additional 90 spaces out of this property. 

I called the city and explain this to them, the head of city admin and city planner got back to me and verbally told me they are aware of how ridiculous the requirement is, and promised I won’t have any issue. Don’t anything in writing.

My question is should I take their word for it? 
Should I act like it’s a big deal since the city is so “chill” about it.
My agent is telling me it’s not a big issue but on the other hand, my attorney see this as big issue needs to be solved. 
anyone have any idea how serious this problem is?

Edit 1: 
The building is on a busy road, the previous owner seems operating it for 15+years without any problem. 

We are not looking to redevelop the property, using it as same purpose as previous owner. Which is retail business.
[{"id": "hzrybw1", "text": "Depends on your risk tolerance, if you can get it in writing that would be best. The verbal stuff means nothing because they can legally still come after you", "replies": [{"id": "hzs2jbb", "text": "I know, that\u2019s why I\u2019m not sure what to do at this point.", "replies": [{"id": "hzuel4h", "text": "Echoing another reply, ask them for a letter confirming that your use is acceptable at the location. It is not so much \"confirming the zoning\" as a letter saying \"Your intended use of XYZ is acceptable.\"\n\nAnother option, if your city requires a certificate of occupancy or business permit, is to make the purchase contingent on favorable approval of the COO or permit.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzrygaq", "text": "Need more detail. What use? What part of town?", "replies": [{"id": "hzs2g7s", "text": "Using the space as retail business, on the busiest street in a Minnesota small town.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzs3e4l", "text": "You may need to go for a different designation. Do you have a zoning attorney or consultant you can ask? In my city we have a myriad of zoning designation that could allow for specific use but all have different parking requirements. For instance, in a transit corridor require no parking at all.", "replies": [{"id": "hzs3o2r", "text": "to be honest, I don't have one. It is a very small town. \n\ntheir zoning and planning is a 1 person department.", "replies": [{"id": "hzs3vy9", "text": "It\u2019s sounds like you need to ask that person if there are any other designations that allow your intended purpose with a lesser parking requirement.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzsbxmj", "text": "Likely depends on the city or state. In PA if you can prove permitted non conforming use 10 years prior you are good to go. My experience with small towns with few businesses has been as you describe, chill", "replies": [{"id": "hzsz6fp", "text": "Do you think they will provide something in written for me? To protect myself for the future?", "replies": [{"id": "hztwv5g", "text": "Impossible to answer without knowing specifics. But calling them and asking for a brief written confirmation (\u201cthis property conforms to zoning requirements\u201d or something along those lines) will take you one minute.\n\nCheck out BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast episode 349 with Nathan Tabor. He got burned by a zoning issue and recommends doing exactly that to protect yourself.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hzuiixn", "text": "Its pretty common.  They just give you a letter that says its a legal non confirming use.  You may want to ask your lawyer to call them, he will know what to ask for", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hzt0e9a", "text": "Outside of life safety issues, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever seen building codes getting applied retroactively. What would the cure be? Buying more land for excess parking? Tearing down portions of the building to bring the ratio in line? Hard to see either those as being reasonable fixes.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i00hf22", "text": "Preface - not a lawyer or developer, just a lowly finance guy who sees a lot of zoning reports. \n\nIn the world of zoning, you have legality (is my specific use, I.E the business operation, allowed by the municipal code) &amp; conformity (does my property conform to current building codes (setbacks, parking minimums, maximum heights, etc.) \n\nLegality is much more black &amp; white - if you are a mechanic shop in an area zoned light retail, you are illegally operating your business and need to close ASAP. An illegal use is obviously an issue for all parties financially involved (lenders, business owners/tenants, property owners, etc.)\n\nA non conforming use really just has to do with your ability to rebuild the property in the event of partial and/or total destruction. The municipality should be able to lay out the specifics on how they approach this, but a common structure I see on the west coast is that you can rebuild back to the same non conforming use if &lt;50% if the building is destroyed. If &gt;50% of the building is destroyed, you would have to build to current codes &amp; minimums. \n\nInsurance providers do offer a product called Ordinance &amp; Law (O&amp;L) coverage, which would cover the incremental cost attributed to bringing the building up to code. Something to definitely think about depending on the municipality\u2019s stance on rebuilding non conforming uses.\n\nTl;dr - legal non conforming uses come with risks, but you shouldn\u2019t have to worry about the city arbitrarily coming in and forcing you meet the current parking minimums. You are grandfathered in under the old code.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]