Many students are expected to balk. The city council is waiting to hold open houses on the program until September so students can provide input. Mayor Lewis Billings said the full 15-page memo and addendums should be posted soon at provo.org.

City Council Chairman George Stewart said the council hopes to finalize a program by December and have it in place by June 2008, one year before the opening of Joaquin Village. The apartment complex will add housing for 950 BYU students in the heart of the neighborhood, at 500 North and 600 East.

Other cities have parking permit areas around major universities, but Provo's research hasn't found another city that issues permits for homeowners to park on city streets or that makes a distinction between homeowners and apartment tenants.

The program wouldn't reserve space directly in front of a permitholder's residence. The cost would be too high, with a sign in front of every building and unique permits for each residence.

Instead, Wilde recommended dividing the neighborhood into six "subdistricts" and issuing different permits for residents in each subdistrict to ease enforcement and costs. Residents would park anywhere in their subdistrict.

The City Council is deeply interested in a parking permit district because it is heavily invested in helping people purchase and stay in homes in the Joaquin neighborhood because of the benefits of stable, single-family residents.

Increased traffic and on-street parking congestion have negatively impacted neighborhood stability, Wilde said.

Visitor parking permits are included in the plan. Businesses would get one parking permit for every two employees during their busiest shift, with a maximum of five permits.

All restrictions would be in effect 24 hours a day, except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

BYU students have been particularly exercised about the possibility of parking meters on 800 North. The recommendation is to issue electronic permits for 80 stalls on the street. Residents could pay for a permit online with a credit card and provide vehicle and license information for enforcement purposes.

Most of the parking permit district profits would come from the meters.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com