Monterey Park, CA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 9.03.010 finds that accumulated abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles reduce property values, promote blight, invite plundering, create fire hazards, attract minors into unsafe conditions, and harbor rodents and insects, and declares them a public nuisance abatable under this chapter and Vehicle Code Section 22660. The rule does not apply to a vehicle fully enclosed in a building and not visible from the street, or to one lawfully stored on private property in connection with a licensed dismantler, dealer, junk dealer, or other lawful business, per Section 9.03.030.

Under Section 9.03.050, the chief of police or an authorized designee may enter property to examine a suspected vehicle, then must mail a ten-day notice of intent to abate to the landowner and the vehicle's last registered and legal owner, stating their hearing rights. A shorter, notice-optional process applies to a low-value vehicle worth less than two hundred dollars that is missing its motor, transmission, or wheels and cannot be towed, if the owner has signed a release. If a hearing is requested within ten days, Section 9.03.060 requires it within fourteen days, and the hearing officer decides both whether the vehicle is a nuisance and whether removal and administrative costs should be charged to the landowner, though costs cannot be assessed if the vehicle was placed without the landowner's consent or acquiescence, per Section 9.03.070.