Decatur, AL Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

Section 22-81 of the Decatur City Code, adopted by Ord. No. 96-3294 on February 5, 1996, counts vehicles rather than measuring them. It is unlawful for any person to park, stand or allow the parking or standing of more than one motor vehicle used for their commercial or business related use on any public street or alley in a residential district of the city. The residential districts are those defined in the Zoning Ordinance, which is Chapter 25 of the Code. The person responsible is the one whose commercial or business vehicles they are, so an owner who lets an employee leave a second work truck at the curb is covered by the words allow the parking or standing.

The rule sits beside a size rule. Section 22-71 separately bars parking or leaving standing on a public street or alley in a residence district any truck, trailer, tractor or structure in excess of twenty-two feet in length or in excess of seven feet in height, except while loading and unloading. A single pickup used for a business is measured by neither section, while two business vehicles at the curb trigger § 22-81, and one oversized box truck triggers § 22-71.

Both sections apply to public streets and alleys. Section 22-81 says nothing about a vehicle parked on private property. Time limits posted on a street by the chief of police under § 22-64 and the manner-of-parking rule in § 22-63, which requires the right-hand wheels to be within eighteen inches of the curb, apply on top of these two provisions.

The Decatur Police Department enforces the traffic chapter. Under § 22-70, when a vehicle has been left on the public streets or alleys or in one of the prohibited areas defined by law or ordinance, the department can remove it to a storage place and hold it until the owner establishes ownership and pays the cost of removal, storage and handling.