Portland, ME Parking Rules: Preferential Parking Districts (2026)

Portland Code of Ordinances Sec. 28-91 creates the city's preferential/residential parking permit program. Under subsection (a), the city council may, by order, define residential parking districts, and annual permit stickers let residents park beyond the one-hour and two-hour time limits posted on public streets within their designated zone; all other parking rules, including meters, still apply. Subsection (c) requires the council to weigh factors before designating a zone, residents' desire for the program and willingness to bear its administrative cost, proximity to 'parking attractors' like employment centers, hospitals and universities, proximity to transit, scarcity of off-street parking, commuter use of curb space, and traffic or safety problems from vehicles cruising for parking.

To qualify, an applicant must reside on or immediately adjacent to a qualifying street, submit a vehicle registration and a Maine driver's license (or student/military ID plus an affidavit for out-of-state residents planning to stay at least five months), and pay a $50 annual fee if qualifying on the five-month residency basis. Annual stickers run July 1 through June 30 and must be displayed on the lower center of the rear window; no permit issues to a vehicle with unpaid notices of parking violations from January 1, 1978 onward until those are resolved.

A resident motor vehicle explicitly excludes motor homes, buses, or vehicles over 25 feet. Sec. 28-93 layers on a second, narrower district, the Bayside Student Parking District, where full-time Portland High School students can get permits allowing parking beyond the one- and two-hour limits on days school is in session.