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

Surry County Code § 154.014-06 treats any project or inoperative motor vehicle stored outdoors, other than inside a permanent conforming structure, as a junked motor vehicle once it sits on residentially zoned land. In rural agricultural, residential, conservation and mixed-use districts, the code caps storage at one junked vehicle per acre, rising to a maximum of five on larger parcels. Every junked vehicle must sit farther from the road than the dwelling itself, and no part of it may be visible from a publicly maintained road or right-of-way; owners can screen with existing structures, topography, dense woods or natural vegetation, but weeds and high grass do not count.

The Zoning Administrator or a designee can approve other screening methods case by case. One unlicensed but running vehicle per occupied dwelling may sit on a graveled or paved driveway; otherwise unlicensed vehicles must be hidden from any public road. Commercial inventory storage is banned outright, though employees may park a work truck or van at home. In public, office, business and industrial districts, an inoperative vehicle may only sit at a commercial garage or service station while actively being repaired, or inside a grandfathered junkyard, auto salvage yard or approved wrecking yard.

The Zoning Administrator, through the Planning and Development Department, enforces the section; a property found out of compliance receives a notice of violation, and under § 154.005-11(B) an uncorrected violation escalates from a warning citation (15 days to correct) to a $50 first citation, $100 second citation and $100 for every citation after that, with each day of continued violation counted as a separate offense.