Lower Paxton, PA Parking Rules: Preferential Parking Districts (2026)

Section 196-25.1 of the Lower Paxton Township Code, added in 1998, lets the Township reserve on-street parking preference for residents on streets affected by parking from nonresidential uses. The Township's Police Department, not the Board of Supervisors, runs the study that decides eligibility. That study weighs seven factors: a possible reduction in total vehicle miles driven in the Township, the likelihood of easing congestion, illegal parking, winter maintenance, litter and loitering, the availability and proximity of public transportation to the nonresidential uses, the desire and need of residents, the availability of off-street parking for those uses, the zoning designation of the area, and the ability of people going to or from those uses to reach their vehicles safely as pedestrians.

An impacted street must show, between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., parked or standing vehicles equal to 50% or more of the legal on-street capacity, counting a legal space as 20 linear feet, and 10% or more of those vehicles must not be registered to a person residing in the area. Those warrants must be met at least once per calendar week for not less than two successive weeks, and a reasonable expectation must exist that the parking will continue without the program. A street can also qualify as potentially impacted if nonresidential parking is reasonably expected once a program starts, or if it migrates from a neighboring permit area; the impacted-area warrants do not apply to that category.

Applications go to the Police Department from the owner or driver of a vehicle who lives on or immediately adjacent to a designated street, one application per vehicle, listing name, address, and the make, model and registration number plus the driver number from the license. The applicant presents the driver's license and registration card. An approved permit is permanently valid while the holder stays qualified and keeps the vehicle named on the application. The Police Department can issue temporary permits to bona fide visitors and two temporary permits to the owner of each single-family dwelling in the area. Vehicles with a Pennsylvania handicapped designation are exempt. A permit does not guarantee or reserve a space, and it does not excuse any other traffic or parking regulation.