Sampson County, NC Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Sampson County Code § 2-32-06.B sets the standard for junk, inoperable or unlicensed vehicles in the Residential Agricultural (RA) district. An owner-occupied lot may keep up to three such vehicles, but only if they are completely concealed from public view: covered by a tarp and placed in the rear yard, covered by a canvas car cover in the rear yard, or located in the rear yard and screened by vegetative growth. A property owner who accumulates a fourth junk, inoperable or unlicensed vehicle crosses the line into operating a junkyard and must obtain a special use permit to continue storing the vehicles, the same special-use threshold the ordinance applies to junk yards generally under Article 1, § 2-4.

Vehicles are never permitted to be stored on vacant, unoccupied parcels regardless of quantity. On R and Mixed Residential (MRD) lots the standard is tighter still: § 2-32-06.A allows no inoperative or unlicensed vehicles at all. In commercial, industrial and conservation districts, § 2-32-06.C permits inoperative vehicles only while they are undergoing repair at a licensed garage or service station and screened from the right-of-way; four or more such vehicles there likewise constitute a junk yard. These vehicle-storage rules sit in Article 3, Zoning Ordinance, adopted under the 2025 Revised Zoning Ordinance effective February 21, 2025, and the Zoning Officer enforces them countywide outside Clinton, Roseboro, Garland and the county's other incorporated towns.