New Brunswick, NJ Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Section 12.28.010 of the New Brunswick Municipal Code sets one daily schedule for every park and playground in the City of New Brunswick: open from sunrise to one hour after sunset, closed at all other times. The only exception is for supervised and municipally approved activities, and the section adds that under no circumstances can any person be present in the parks and playgrounds during closed hours. Chapter 12.28 rests on the power to regulate park areas contained in R.S. 40:61-1, and § 12.28.350 lists the designated parks, including Buccleuch Park, Boyd Park, Feaster Park, Joyce Kilmer Park, Recreation Park, Murphy Park and Memorial Stadium Park.

Vehicles follow the same clock. Section 12.28.230 prohibits parking any motor vehicle in a park from one hour after sunset until sunrise, except night parking in designated locations during supervised and municipally approved recreation or social activities, when the vehicle must carry the lights prescribed by New Jersey Motor Vehicle Laws. Buccleuch Park is treated differently by day: parking is permitted on the blacktop portion of its streets between sunrise and one hour after sunset except on listed streets, and the roadway through the park carries a two hour limit from 7:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m.

Two places run on other rules. Monument Square is designated a city park by § 12.28.320, but § 12.28.330 exempts it from § 12.28.010, so the closing hour does not apply there, and § 12.28.340 lets the city council authorize activities in the Square by resolution. The dog parks under § 12.28.370 post their own hours of operation, sunrise to sunset.

An officer's direction controls inside the park. Under § 12.28.210 a driver must immediately obey a police officer, park patrol officer or other authorized park personnel, and § 12.28.020 makes it unlawful to fail to obey any officer in the proper performance of his or her duties. Entering or leaving except at established entrance ways or exits is also listed there as a prohibited act.