New Braunfels, TX Parking Rules: Preferential Parking Districts (2026)

To create a district, residents or property owners submit an application to the city engineer with a map of the proposed blocks, the address and occupant of every lot, and a petition signed by two-thirds of the single-family homeowners in the area (§126-354(d)). The area must cover at least ten contiguous single-family or commercial lots, or the full length of a shorter street. The city engineer reviews the petition, then city council holds a public hearing with notice mailed at least ten days ahead to every occupant on the petition and to owners within 300 feet; council may approve, reject or shrink the proposed boundary but cannot expand it, and adopts the final district and its specific hours by ordinance (§126-354(d)(3)).

Once established, each occupant of a home or business inside the district receives four annual parking permits at no charge (§126-354(f)(1)); more can be issued for hardship cases, and temporary daily passes (up to 20 per address or event) cover visitors, with denials appealable to city council. Permits are non-transferable, cannot be sold, and confer only a revocable privilege rather than a reserved space (§126-354(h)).

New Braunfels currently runs 17 lettered districts, Areas A through P, concentrated in the historic neighborhoods around the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers and downtown, including blocks off Union Avenue, Comal Avenue, Sunnybrook Drive and Hampe Street. Most restrict parking only from May 1 through September 30 or March 1 through October 31 to manage river-tourism crowds; a few, like Area N along West Jahn Street, run overnight every day of the year.