Tompkins County, NY Parking Rules: Overnight Parking (2026)

Chapter 162, Article II, General Parking Regulations, applies only to 'controlled parking areas' defined in § 162-9 as the parking areas used in conjunction with county office buildings and courthouses, plus any other county-owned land suitable for parking (§ 162-8). Within that scope, § 162-13 gives the County Legislature, or a committee or staff member it designates, the power to set overnight hours from time to time during which parking is prohibited or limited in one or more of those county parking areas; the article does not set a single countywide overnight curfew, and it does not reach town, village or city streets, which each municipality regulates on its own.

The county also designates 'restricted parking areas' within its lots for county and certain state officials and for handicapped drivers, requiring a permit under § 162-10. Signs and pavement markings set by the Commissioner of Public Works establish where parking is and is not allowed (§ 162-12), and a vehicle parked outside a marked space or against posted signage is unlawful. Enforcement runs through § 162-14, a written notice of illegal parking delivered to the vehicle and to the County Personnel Office, and § 162-15, which authorizes summoning the owner to municipal court or towing the vehicle to storage, with the owner required to prove identity and ownership and pay the towing and storage charges before reclaiming it.