Chelsea, MA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Chelsea's off-street parking ordinance, Sec. 34-106, sets both a placement rule and a surface rule for driveways and parking areas. Under subsection (c)(1), outdoor parking spaces cannot be located in any required front yard, within five feet of a wall containing ground floor or basement windows, or within five feet of a side or rear lot line, and required parking generally has to sit on the same lot it serves. Subsection (d), which applies to parking lots with five or more spaces, restates the front-yard ban in paragraph (2): parking within a required front yard is not permitted except when the zoning board of appeals grants a special permit.

That same subsection sets minimum space sizes of nine feet by 18 feet, requires access from an intervening private drive rather than directly off a public way, and requires a pedestrian walkway and landscaped break in any row of more than 20 spaces. Subsection (g), Maintenance, then governs the surface itself: except for single- and two-family structures, parking areas and driveways must have a paved surface, properly drained, and only spaces beyond what the chapter actually requires can be maintained in grass instead. The same subsection requires clearly marked spaces and one-way direction signage for parking serving more than six units, and bars using required parking areas for anything but automobile parking, ruling out sales, dead storage, loading, trash removal or vehicle repair.

Enclosed parking within a structure follows a separate, smaller space standard under subsection (f), and driveway curb cuts cannot exceed the width the Department of Public Works specifies without a special permit.