Roanoke, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

2-430 of the Zoning Ordinance sets the supplemental standards every towing service use must meet to operate as a permitted use in the city's commercial and industrial zoning districts. First, the lot on which the towing service operates must contain a minimum of twenty thousand (20,000) square feet, which rules out running a wrecker yard from a small commercial parcel. Second, the section limits how long a towing company can store damaged or inoperative vehicles and trailers outdoors: no more than one hundred twenty (120) calendar days, unless the operator gives the Zoning Administrator documentation showing the vehicle is tied up in an ongoing law enforcement investigation, an insurance investigation, or a lien-sale proceeding the towing service is pursuing as expeditiously as possible under Code of Virginia § 43-34, the statute governing a towing and storage business's lien on abandoned or unclaimed vehicles.

Beyond the storage clock, Table 647-1's buffering and screening requirements separately require towing services to screen the perimeter of any storage area for damaged or inoperative vehicles with a solid fence or wall at least six feet tall wherever that storage area sits near another use. Together these two zoning provisions function as the city's operational check on towing yards, capping both their minimum footprint and how long wrecked vehicles can sit visible outdoors, rather than regulating towing fees or non-consent tow procedures, which are governed separately under state law.