Cathedral City, CA Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

Section 12.56.060, Vehicle parking prohibition, is in Chapter 12.56 (Truck Routes and Parking Restrictions), enacted by Ordinance 201 in 1987 under the California Vehicle Code. Its stated purpose is to maintain the residential neighborhood atmosphere and protect public safety and welfare. A commercial vehicle with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand pounds (five tons) or more, measured per California Vehicle Code Section 390, cannot park on any street or portion of a street that is not a designated truck route. The exception covers making pickups or deliveries from or to a building, or use in bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling or construction of a building or structure located off the truck route. Vehicles at that weight are also prohibited from private property unless a use permit or design review approval allows it under the zone code. No commercial vehicle under ten thousand pounds can park on any street except in commercial or industrial zoned areas or on an authorized truck route.

Section 12.56.020 defines a commercial vehicle as one required to be registered under the Vehicle Code and used or maintained for transporting persons for hire, compensation or profit, or designed, used or maintained primarily to transport property. Section 12.56.030 designates the truck routes: Cathedral Canyon Drive, Date Palm Drive, East Palm Canyon Drive (State Highway 111), Perez Road, Ramon Road, Varner Road and Vista Chino, marked with TRUCK ROUTE signs. Section 12.56.050 lets the police department issue resident exemption permits for travel on restricted streets, limited to one truck and trailer or tractor and trailer combination per legal lot, vehicle parked in an enclosed garage or side or rear yard to minimize visibility, and no continuous engine, generator or compressor operation before six a.m. or after nine p.m. Section 12.56.090 bans any commercial vehicle on any city street between two a.m. and six a.m., with exemptions for deliveries, construction, public utility and licensed contractor vehicles, and decal-bearing city tow contractors.