Newark, NJ Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Under Revised General Ordinances § 23:5-9, added by Ordinance No. 6PSF-D on February 4, 2026, "yard frontage" is defined as the area running the full width of a lot between the street line and the nearest part of the residential building. A. 39:1-1 cannot be parked, stored or maintained on grass or dirt. The section makes it unlawful for a property owner, tenant or occupant to park there or to permit anyone else to do so, closing the loophole where a landlord could claim ignorance of a tenant's habit of pulling a car onto the lawn.

Enforcement runs through the Department of Public Safety's Police Division rather than a code-enforcement or zoning office, so tickets can be written by patrol officers on routine rounds, not just by inspectors responding to complaints. Each day the vehicle remains on the lawn is treated as a separate offense, which lets fines compound quickly for a resident who ignores an initial summons. The ordinance carves out two exceptions: nothing in it stops parking on an approved driveway, and nothing stops a tow when emergency responders need access to the property.

That second exception matters in a dense city with narrow lots, since it lets fire or EMS crews have a blocking vehicle removed rather than working around it.