Methuen, MA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 5.10 of the Methuen Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, titled Parking of unregistered vehicles, is the city's land-use rule for junk and project vehicles on residential lots. Subsection A says the ungaraged parking of an unregistered car, truck or trailer is not permitted in any residential districts. Two paths remain open. The first is a special permit from the Board of Appeals, which is the only route to keep an unregistered vehicle outside a garage. The second is storage inside a garage, because the ban reaches only ungaraged parking.

Even with a special permit, § 5.10(A)(2) sets a location limit: no such vehicle shall be stored between the principal building and a street line. That keeps unregistered vehicles out of the front yard area of a lot in the City of Methuen. Section 6.2(E)(4) separately says no front yard shall be used for the open storage of boats, vehicles, travel trailers or any other equipment.

Subsection B carves out one case. The section does not apply to the parking of one noncommercial motor vehicle parked on a driveway, if the same is in operable condition and meets standards as required under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90 for inspection and registration. A vehicle that fails that test, such as an inoperable car with lapsed registration, is back under the subsection A ban. The section covers residential districts only; it does not address vehicles on public streets, which fall outside this zoning export. A neighbor's complaint goes to the Building Commissioner, who investigates under Article X.