New Britain, CT Parking Rules: Preferential Parking Districts (2026)

Sec. 15-80 of the Code of Ordinances lets the common council designate a "residential street parking zone" on any metered block, but only after a public hearing before one of its committees weighing lost meter revenue against expected permit revenue. Once signs go up marking a block as part of a zone, a driver displaying a residential street parking permit in plain view may park there without paying the hourly meter or observing any posted time limit. Permits are issued to the owners of specific residential properties, for use by their tenants, and only to facilitate rehabilitation of one or more residential buildings, not as a general resident-parking benefit.

The application process runs through three bodies: the applicant files with the public works department, which forwards the application to both the parking commission and the city plan commission; the city plan commission must judge whether the permit will facilitate residential rehabilitation in the city's best interest, and only then may the parking commission grant it. Permits remain valid only until the parking commission revokes them at its discretion, and they lapse unless renewed annually with payment of a fee set at eighteen times the city's highest monthly parking-garage rate, evidenced by a sticker permanently affixed to the windshield.

New Britain separately offers reduced-rate general parking permits, obtained at city hall through the parking commission under Sec. 15-90, to residents of specified blocks of Glen, Arch, Prospect and Camp Streets who show proof of residency and a valid Connecticut vehicle registration.