Burlington, NC Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Chapter 36, Article VI of the Burlington City Code sets the basic rules for stopping and parking on city streets. Section 36-140 requires vehicles to park parallel to the curb and no more than twelve inches from it, except in marked angle-parking zones, and requires parking between any painted lines on a street or lot. Section 36-141 bars stopping with the vehicle's left side to the curb anywhere in the city, and on one-way streets a vehicle must stop headed in the direction of traffic.

Section 36-142 makes it unlawful for any vehicle to stand on a street in a way that interrupts or interferes with the passage of other vehicles. Section 36-144 lists specific places where stopping, standing or parking is prohibited outright unless necessary to avoid a traffic conflict or under a police officer's direction, including within five feet of a public or private driveway or another person's mailbox, within an intersection or twenty feet of one, on a crosswalk, within fifteen feet of a fire hydrant, and at any place posted with a no-parking sign.

Because Section 36-168 treats Chapter 36 parking violations as civil matters under G.S. 160A-175 rather than criminal infractions under G.S. 14-4, violators receive a civil penalty rather than a misdemeanor charge, payable within fourteen days under Section 36-167.1 to the collections division at the city annex, 237 West Maple Avenue.