Gary, IN Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Gary Municipal Code § 28-65 bars parking on residential lawns outright unless the homeowner has first built an approved driveway or parking pad. The text draws no distinction between working vehicles and disabled ones: 'operable, or inoperable' vehicles are both covered, closing off the common workaround of storing a broken-down car on the grass. The requirement that the driveway or parking pad be 'properly constructed' and 'approved' ties enforcement to the city's building and permitting process, so a resident cannot simply lay down gravel or mulch and call it compliant; the surface must go through the city's approval channel before vehicles may be parked there.

The provision sits in Chapter 28's Article III, Offenses Against Property Rights, alongside other property-maintenance offenses such as defacing property and disturbances near school property, reflecting that Gary treats unauthorized lawn parking as a property-rights and neighborhood-standards issue rather than a traffic matter. The Building Department and city code enforcement officers are the agencies that administer driveway and parking-pad approvals and follow up on complaints about vehicles parked on unpaved lawns.