Newton Panel Advances Overnight Parking Ban Working Group, Sets December Deadline

NEWTON — April 8, 2026 — Newton's Public Safety Transportation Committee moved toward forming a working group to overhaul the city's overnight parking ban ordinance, targeting a December 1, 2026 implementation date. Chair Councillor Tariq Lucas led the panel's third hearing on Docket 62-26, guiding members through a list of short-term goals — navigable streets, street safety, ease of enforcement, and hardship relief for residents with no off-street parking — that will serve as the working group's charge. The group, expected to number five to seven members drawn from the Transportation Advisory Group, Traffic Council, and community residents, would report back by roughly July 1 to allow time for a public hearing in September and a full council vote in October. The committee voted unanimously to hold the item. On a separate street sweeping compliance item for Nonantum, the panel voted 7-0 to take no action after agreeing that a new docket item with specific language to raise the current $25 fine should be filed; Captain Kevin Devine of the Police Department said he would survey surrounding communities — Cambridge charges $100, Boston $40, Worcester $30 — before the committee settles on a figure.