Chapel Hill, NC Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Sec. 21-25.1 makes it unlawful to leave any motor vehicle on property owned or operated by the town for longer than twenty-four hours; once that period passes, the vehicle is considered abandoned and subject to towing and impoundment. Sec. 21-25.2 applies a longer seven-day threshold to vehicles left on a public street or highway, after which the vehicle is likewise deemed abandoned and subject to towing. Both sections, adopted together under Ord. No. 92-8-24/O-1, § 3, share the same procedural safeguard: a vehicle cannot be towed for either violation until the town places a notice of violation on it forty-eight hours before the tow.

Once towed, an owner or agent can request an administrative hearing within seven days of the tow notice, or within seven days of learning of the impoundment, to contest whether there was probable cause to tow under Sec. 21-18.4, which the impoundment procedure for abandoned vehicles cross-references. The hearing officer decides only whether probable cause existed and whether the town followed its required procedures, with the person requesting the hearing bearing the burden of proving a right to possession and the towing officer bearing the burden of showing probable cause.

If no probable cause is found, the town refunds any bond and pays the towing and storage fees itself; if probable cause is found, the vehicle is released only after the owner pays the town's towing and storage fees. A decision may be appealed to Orange County District Court under N.C.G.S. 160A-303(d)(2)(c).