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

290 makes it unlawful to park or leave standing a commercial vehicle, as that term is defined in the state Vehicle Code, on any street inside a residential district if the vehicle carries a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or more. That threshold captures box trucks, dump trucks, tractors, and most work vans built on heavy-duty chassis; ordinary pickup trucks and passenger vehicles used for business fall well under the cutoff and are not covered. A "residential district" for purposes of this section is defined by cross-reference to Title 18, the city's zoning title: any parcel or area classified residential under that title counts, regardless of how the street itself is signed.

The ordinance carves out two narrow exceptions. First, a qualifying heavy vehicle may stop to make pickups or deliveries of persons, goods, wares, and merchandise to or from a building on that street, so a moving truck or delivery rig can load and unload without violating the section. Second, a heavy vehicle may park to deliver materials used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of a building on the street, but only where a building permit for that work has already been obtained before the vehicle parks.

Long-term or overnight storage of a qualifying truck, trailer tractor, or semi on a residential street outside those two windows is not permitted under any other justification. The section traces to Ordinance No. 28 (Stopping, Standing and Parking) of Title 10 (Vehicles and Traffic). Property owners who need a heavy vehicle on-site longer than a delivery or an active, permitted job should park off-street, since the code does not authorize a residential parking exemption or permit process for commercial trucks.