Chelsea, MA Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Section 5-1 opens by barring any registered vehicle's owner from letting it stand or park in violation of the city's parking and traffic regulations, then lists 20 specific places where parking is off-limits regardless of signage: intersections, sidewalks, crosswalks, roadways in sparsely settled areas, more than 12 inches from the curb on a permitted street, blocking a 12-foot clear lane for passing traffic, within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, in front of a driveway or within 2 feet of one on either side, within 20 feet of an intersecting way, within 15 feet of a fire station wall, near unguarded railroad crossings, on bridges and their approaches, on narrow streets where signs bar it, during posted street-cleaning hours, and blocking a handicapped curb ramp.

L. Chapter 90, Section 20A. Several of these paragraphs, including the street-cleaning, head-on parking and railroad-crossing provisions, are only enforceable where the city has actually posted signs under Section 3-4(b) of the same regulations. Section 10-5 layers a parallel tow-zone list onto many of the same violations, including blocking a driveway, parking within 20 feet of an intersection, and parking within 10 feet of a hydrant, and adds its own flat fines of $100 for blocking a handicapped space and $25 for blocking a curb ramp.