Dubuque, IA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 10-1-11 defines 'unused' or 'inoperable' broadly: a vehicle qualifies if it's unlicensed for the current year, can't be started and moved at least 50 feet on an officer's request, lacks required financial liability coverage under Iowa Code § 321.20B, is missing windshield, window, headlight or taillight glass, lacks usable wheels or tires, has broken or sharp exposed parts, has become a habitat for rats, mice or vermin, or is otherwise defective enough to threaten public health or safety. Merely having current registration doesn't excuse a vehicle that meets any of the other criteria.

Subsection C flatly bans accumulating, storing or placing any such vehicle in the public right-of-way. Subsection D goes further: no one may detach a camper, recreational vehicle, towed vehicle or trailer that can't move under its own power and leave it standing in the right-of-way, unload a pickup camper and leave it standing there, or leave a watercraft in the right-of-way unless it's attached to an operable motor vehicle. Construction sites and permitted special events are exempt, and loading or unloading any of these items, including pickup campers and watercraft, is allowed for up to four continuous hours.

Enforcement runs through the city's general civil-penalty chapter, § 1-4-2, and beyond the civil penalty the violator is also liable to the City for the actual costs, damages, staff time and attorney fees of abating the vehicle. If the City removes a vehicle under a municipal infraction judgment and the same vehicle turns up inoperable again in the right-of-way within six months, the city manager can skip getting a second judgment before abating it again, though all notice and removal procedures still apply, including the towing and storage notice-to-owner process in §§ 9-15-321.770 through .772.