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

Chapter 78, § 78-147 regulates parking on private ways in Medford, meaning ways on which the public has a right of access even though the land itself is privately owned, such as many condominium and multi-family driveway networks. The stated intent is to keep traffic flowing and guarantee public safety vehicles reach every property on the way. Subsection (a) lists seven specific prohibited acts: parking an unregistered or uninsured vehicle; parking within ten feet of a fire hydrant; blocking or obstructing access to any driveway; parking within 20 feet of an intersection; blocking any emergency vehicle from proceeding; obstructing the way so a snowplow cannot clear it during a winter storm; and, for a nonresident, parking on the way for more than 48 hours.

Subsection (b) gives the Medford Police Department authority to tag or tow the offending vehicle for any of those seven violations, without requiring a separate court order first. Subsection (c) sets the fine for any of the seven acts at the same rate the department charges for the equivalent violation on a public way, tying private-way enforcement directly to the public parking fine schedule in appendix A. Subsection (d) is a severability clause: if a court strikes one part of § 78-147 as inconsistent with state law, the rest of the section stays in force.

The ordinance, adopted by Ord. No. 580 on July 6, 1993, targets the driveway-blocking and hydrant-blocking complaints common on Medford's dense private ways near Tufts University and West Medford.