We have parking bylaws to keep residents, drivers and business owners safe. Below, you can find a summary of our parking bylaws. Please follow these regulations when parking your vehicle anywhere in Kitchener.
On this page:
- Report a problem
- Street parking bylaws
- Winter parking
- Boulevard parking
- Camera enforcement vehicle
- Where to park if you're doing work on your driveway
- Parking bylaw documents
Report a problem
If a vehicle violates any of our parking bylaws, we will issue a ticket and the vehicle may be towed at its owner’s expense. Parking ticket fines can range from $20 to $300.
To report a violation of our parking bylaws, call 519-741-2345.
Street parking bylaws
Please do not park your vehicle:
- for more than 3 consecutive hours on any city street from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., unless signs are posted that say otherwise
- on or over any sidewalk, or on a city boulevard - paved or grass, including between the sidewalk and street
- in prohibited areas
- facing the opposite direction to traffic
- on private property without the consent of the owner or occupant
- within 3 metres of a fire hydrant
- in a designated fire route
- in an accessible parking space without an accessible parking permit clearly displayed on your dashboard
- for a second time within five hours of first parking in the two-hour free parking spots downtown
- within 1.5m of a driveway
Vehicles with expired licence plates or without licence plates cannot park on city streets.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has a list of street signs on their website.
Commercial vehicle parking
Commercial vehicles that weigh more than 4,500 kg (4.6 tons) are not allowed to park on city streets.
Winter parking
Overnight parking exemptions
You can request an overnight parking exemption to park in a legal parking spot overnight between December 1 and March 31.
You do not need an exemption to park in a legal parking spot overnight between April 1 and November 30.
Snow Events
When more than 8 cm of snow is forecast, or a Snow Event is declared, you cannot park on city streets.
During a snow event, check our social media pages for up-to-date information.
Boulevard parking
If you have a driveway with access to single family, semi-detached and street fronting townhouses, you can park on the boulevard of your driveway.
When you park on the boulevard, you must follow these regulations:
- park facing the direction of traffic
- do not park on the landscaped portions of the boulevard
- do not access the paved part of the boulevard by driving over the landscaped portions
- park fully on the paved portion of the boulevard
- all tires must be fully on the hard surface
- no part of the vehicle can overhang the sidewalk or the curb or road edge
When you cannot park on your boulevard
- if your driveway is connected to your neighbour’s driveway, do not park your vehicle in a way that crosses the property line
- do not park on the boulevard if your driveway is within 15 metres of an intersection
- if you live in a school zone, you must remove your vehicle from the boulevard before 8 a.m. from Monday to Friday
Camera enforcement vehicle
Our camera enforcement vehicles scan licence plates to help us enforce parking time limits on our streets, including:
- re-parking limit within the downtown core
- three-hour parking time limit
- stopping in no stopping school zones
- enforcement in surface parking lots
We store the information collected on a secure City of Kitchener server. We keep the information for the time required by the city's records retention by-law. We do not keep any information that is not related to a parking infraction. All information collected is private and confidential.
Where to park if you're doing work on your driveway
If you're doing work on your driveway and cannot park in your regular spot, call 519-741-2345 to ask for an exemption from our regular 3-hour on-street parking rule.
This process does not apply from December 1 to March 31.
Visit our road construction information page to learn about parking when there is city work near your home.
Parking bylaw documents
Review our full parking bylaws: