Tempe, AZ Parking Rules: Overnight Parking (2026)

Section 19-137, in Article XI of Chapter 19 (Movement and Traffic) of the general code, is Tempe's answer to long-term or seemingly abandoned street parking rather than a nightly ban. It provides that no person shall park any vehicle, including a disabled vehicle, upon any public street or right-of-way for a continuous period longer than one hundred twenty (120) consecutive hours, and that each twenty-four (24) hour period during which a vehicle is parked in violation of this section shall constitute a distinct and separate offense, so the citations stack the longer a car sits.

The section is unusual among Chapter 19's posted-sign requirements because it expressly does not need any sign to be enforceable: subsection (d) states that Section 19-134's general signage requirement shall not apply to this section, so the 120-hour clock runs on every public street citywide by default. Once the limit is broken, the Tempe Police Department is authorized to tow the vehicle, but only after posting a 48-hour notice of removal directly on the vehicle warning the owner or operator; the vehicle's owner is then responsible for all towing costs the City incurs.

Because the article's other rules, like the meter and loading-zone provisions, generally require posted signs, Section 19-137 functions as Tempe's default backstop against a car parked on the same block indefinitely, including overnight and across multiple nights, once the five-day mark is crossed.