Douglas County, CO Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

The countywide rule is § 1-208 of the Douglas County Zoning Resolution. It says no land may be used as an outside storage area for collecting, dismantling, storing or selling junk, trash, rubbish, refuse of any kind, remnants of wood, metal or plastic, discarded materials, inoperative vehicles or dismantled machinery. The section closes the usual excuse: it applies whether or not the material could be put to any reasonable use. The only way out is approval as a use by special review in the GI (General Industrial) zone district.

The district parking sections then set the rules for vehicles parked outdoors at homes. In the SR Suburban Residential District, § 1-711 requires unlicensed, operable vehicles parked outside to be concealed by a solid fence, berm, vegetative barrier, or a combination thereof, and states that inoperable vehicles are prohibited. The RR Rural Residential District (§ 1-514) and the ER Estate Residential District (§ 1-614) carry the same two sentences in their parking standards. The GI district words it differently: §§ 1-1413A, 1-1413C and 1-1413D require inoperable or unlicensed, operable vehicles parked outside at residential uses to be concealed, while § 1-1413B says inoperable vehicles shall not be stored outside.

A commercial version of this activity is its own use. Section 1-2107 lists a junk, scrap metal, or auto wrecking yard as a use by special review in the GI zone district, provided all such uses are screened by a solid wall or fence at least six feet in height.

These rules cover the unincorporated area only. Highlands Ranch, Roxborough Park, The Pinery and Stonegate are unincorporated and fall under the county resolution, while Castle Rock, Parker, Lone Tree, Castle Pines and Larkspur enforce their own codes. A Highlands Ranch Community Association covenant about vehicles is a private HRCA rule, not a county rule.