Austin, TX Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

City Code Section 12-5-29 (Front or Side Yard Parking) only applies inside the boundaries the police chief keeps on file as the official restricted parking area map, so a homeowner outside a mapped neighborhood is not covered. Within a mapped area, the rule bars parking a motor vehicle, including an inoperable one as defined in Section 9-1-1, in the front yard or side yard of a residential property. The two carve-outs are a driveway, defined as the area adjacent to a curb cut that gives vehicular access between the street and an off-street parking area, including a circular driveway, and a paved parking space that appears on an approved site plan. Front yard and side yard carry the meanings fixed in Section 25-1-21, the code's general definitions section, so the boundary lines match whatever setback and yard definitions apply to that lot's zoning.

Neighborhoods are not automatically covered; the map only expands through a petition process. An officer of a registered neighborhood association, or the chair of the official planning area contact team where a neighborhood plan exists, may apply to the city manager during February of each year asking the council to add or remove an area. The city manager must publish notice of the public hearing in English and Spanish in a newspaper of general circulation at least 16 days beforehand, and the City pays that publication cost. Once council adds an area inside a neighborhood plan combining district under Section 25-2-1406, removing it later requires amending the neighborhood plan ordinance itself, not just a map edit. Enforcement runs through the same civil parking-citation process as the rest of Chapter 12-5: a parking enforcement officer or peace officer issues a citation, and the registered owner is presumed liable under Section 12-5-1 unless the vehicle was operated by someone else at the time.