Franklin County, WA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

260(B) permits inoperable vehicles as an accessory use on agricultural production, rural residential, rural community, residential suburban and residential zoned lots, and on nonconforming residential uses elsewhere in the county. The limit is one vehicle stored outside a fully enclosed building or site-obscuring fence at a time; that fence has to be a completely enclosed screen at least six feet tall. Behind a qualifying six-foot fence, up to two inoperable vehicles may be stored without needing anything further, but storing more than two behind the fence crosses into junkyard territory and requires a Franklin County conditional use permit.

Whatever vehicle sits outside in the open has to be parked in a designated parking area or driveway, never in the front yard and never in the public right-of-way, and it can't interfere with the lot's required off-street parking or lot coverage. While unattended, the outside vehicle's trunk must be removed or kept locked, and any vehicle parts not properly installed on a vehicle have to be stored inside a fully enclosed building rather than left loose in the yard. The Planning and Building Department administers the conditional use permit process for storage beyond the one-outside/two-behind-a-fence threshold, and enforcement runs through the standard Title 17 zoning code enforcement process for a use that exceeds these accessory-use limits.