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

Thurston County's junk-vehicle rule lives in the zoning code's environmental performance standards, not in a separate abandoned-vehicle chapter. 060 first requires, in subsections A and B, that any business store merchandise, raw materials or scrap inside an enclosed building where practical, and that any permitted outside storage stay orderly, create no visual offense to neighbors or the right-of-way, and pose no fire, safety or sanitary hazard. ' Title 21's definitions describe a 'junk vehicle' as any inoperable, abandoned, disassembled or extensively damaged automobile, truck, boat, trailer or similar vehicle, evidenced by two or more conditions such as a flat tire, a missing wheel or engine, a shattered windshield, or a license plate invalid for more than sixty days.

Subsection C(1) allows one narrow exception: a single special-interest vehicle under active restoration, plus up to two parts vehicles, may sit outside past thirty days if screened from neighboring properties and the right-of-way by a barrier at least six feet high that fully blocks the view, since a tarp alone does not qualify. Subsection C(2) separately allows operable vehicles, boats and trailers to be stored outdoors indefinitely provided they do not block the right-of-way or sightlines at an intersection and are not used as living quarters, while subsection D bans storing any vehicle in the public right-of-way outright. 080, which lets the county demand technical evidence of compliance and require the property owner to cover inspection or consultant costs.