Bethlehem, PA Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Bethlehem is a Third Class City of roughly 76,000 straddling Lehigh and Northampton Counties, governed by its Home Rule Charter and the Codified Ordinances of the City of Bethlehem hosted by American Legal Publishing at codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/bethlehem. The City's Vehicles and Traffic provisions regulate parking on City streets, and its Property Maintenance / Nuisance provisions address inoperable and stored vehicles. On-street parking of any vehicle - including RVs, campers, boat trailers and utility trailers - is subject to the statewide PA Vehicle Code (75 Pa.C.S.), notably §3353 (Restrictions on parking), and to local restrictions adopted by Bethlehem City Council. On-lot storage of recreational vehicles, campers and boats in residential districts is regulated by the Bethlehem Zoning Ordinance (a separately adopted document referenced in the Code, last comprehensively amended ~2023), which generally treats RV/boat/trailer storage as an accessory use subject to the underlying RT, RR, RS, RG and RM district bulk standards; storage in a required front yard is typically disallowed. Living in an RV parked on a residential lot is barred by the property-maintenance and zoning provisions outside of properly zoned RV or mobile home parks. The Bethlehem Department of Community and Economic Development (Bureau of Code Enforcement) and the Bethlehem Police Department share enforcement; the Bethlehem Parking Authority (a city-owned municipal authority) handles on-street meter and permit operations.