Newark, OH Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Private property. Section 660.07(a)(2) defines a junk motor vehicle as any motor vehicle left uncovered in the open on private real property, without being housed in an enclosed garage or other suitable structure, for more than seventy-two hours with the permission of the person having the right to possession of that property. A licensed junk yard or scrap metal processing facility is excepted, and the definition carries the proviso that the vehicle meets the requirements of Ohio R.C. 4513.63. Subsection (b) bars depositing, storing, maintaining or collecting junk or junk motor vehicles on any premises, except junk contained within structures in an industrial district under the Zoning Code or in an area regularly established for automotive junk yards or salvage and scrap metal yards.

The enforcement sequence is in subsections (c) and (d). The Director of Public Safety, or a designated representative, sends notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the person having the right to possession of the real property. The notice gives ten days from receipt to cover the vehicle in a garage or other suitable structure or remove it from the property. After that, willfully leaving it uncovered and in the open is an offense, the placement is prima-facie evidence of willful failure to comply, and each ten-day period is a separate offense.

Public streets. Section 452.05(a) lets the Police Chief order into storage a motor vehicle, including an abandoned junk motor vehicle as defined in Ohio R.C. 4513.63, left on a public street, other property open to public vehicular travel, or a road or highway right-of-way for 48 hours or longer without notifying the Chief. A vehicle that obstructs traffic can be ordered into storage immediately, with exceptions for accident vehicles and commercial motor vehicles. The Chief searches records for the owner and any lienholder within five business days of removal, and the notice states that the vehicle will be declared a nuisance and disposed of if not claimed within ten days. The owner pays removal and storage charges, plus a $25 processing fee when the place of storage ran the search and sent the notice.