A little section of street near Kansas University may start a bigger debate about whether the city should implement a permit parking system for the crowded Oread neighborhood.

Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting are being asked to approve a special residents-only parking zone for two homes in the 1600 block of Edgehill Road. The special parking designation has been in place for about a year as a test case, but staff members now are recommending making the designation permanent.

One of the homeowners benefiting from the designation said he thinks it’s time for the city to consider the permit idea for larger sections of the Oread neighborhood too, which is flooded each day with KU students and staff seeking a free place to park.

“I believe the time is long past that there should be certain sections of the city designated as resident-only-parking,” said Steven Watts. “It works beautifully in other cities. People understand that if they are not part of the neighborhood, they are going to be towed. It is not rocket science.”

But city officials said they aren’t recommending that the entire Oread neighborhood require a permit for parking. But they said there may be a few more locations that will be considered for the special parking on a case-by-case basis.

“I think this is going to be the exception, not the rule,” said Chuck Soules, the city’s director of public works. “Others who want the special designation are really going to have to show the need and the hardship.”

But the idea of making all of Oread a special parking district has come up at City Hall before. It just hasn’t gotten very far. In 2013, the city was selected by the Environmental Protection Agency for a study that examined parking in the Oread neighborhood. The report produced several recommendations, including the idea that a permit parking system be studied for the Oread neighborhood.

Unlike many other reports, though, city commissioners have never formally had that report on their city agenda for discussion, and have not given staff members any direction on how to proceed with the report’s recommendations.

Eileen Horn, the city-county sustainability coordinator who worked on the report, said there’s no timeline for the commission to take up the issue. She said creating a permit parking system for Oread would be a large task to undertake.

“It would be critical to get a lot of neighborhood engagement,” Horn said “We would really need to hear from residents what they think would work.”

Soules said the idea also could be problematic from an enforcement standpoint.

“Who is going to run around and enforce it on a daily basis?” Soules asked. “If you wait for a call to come in, then you are pulling a police officer away from other police work, and I’m not sure that’s the intention either.”

But Watts said he’s sure there are other residents who face the same type of parking problems. He said the permit system was a big time-saver recently when his hot water heater went out. Had it not been for the permit parking system — which allows for service calls and other guests — the plumber would have had to park more than a block away to access the house.

Soules said the city has received a few other inquiries from residents about getting a special residents-only designation in front of their homes. Soules said the process for future requests will be for the city’s Traffic Safety Commission to make a recommendation to the City Commission based on the facts of the particular situation.

The designation for Edgehill Road — which will have a total of two reserved spaces for the two homes — was warranted because the two homes had no off-street parking, and are next to a fraternity house that quickly takes up all available on-street parking spaces.

Watts, who said he does have one makeshift off-street parking space that doesn’t meet all city codes, said the permit system would help residents have better enjoyment of their homes.

“Edgehill Road used to be a magical place, and now it is just a public parking lot,” Watts said.

Commissioners meet at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.