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

Section 11.32.360 holds two separate rules. The first applies on any street in a residential district: a heavy-duty commercial vehicle cannot stay longer than three hours. Three exceptions apply. The vehicle can stay while actually loading or unloading property, plus the time reasonably necessary to finish the work; it can stay while performing a service to or on a property in the same block, plus the time reasonably necessary; and it can park immediately in front of or alongside premises actively devoted to industry or commerce that touch the street. The second rule is an overnight ban on any street east of and including National City Boulevard between two a.m. and six a.m. daily, subject to the same exceptions.

A heavy-duty commercial vehicle is a single vehicle or combination of vehicles with more than two axles or weighing more than ten thousand pounds GVWR, twenty feet or more in length, or six feet, eight inches or more in width, including dump trucks, moving vans, tractors, pole or pipe dollies, trailers and detached flatbed trailers. The definition excludes a recreational vehicle, which falls under § 11.32.366 instead. A residential district means any street where the contiguous property on the block is zoned residential under Chapter 18.14, including single-family detached dwellings, multifamily dwellings and apartment houses. The area south of Division Street, west of National City Boulevard, north of 8th Street and east of Interstate 5 is carved out.

Enforcement has a notice step. A vehicle that violates the overnight ban cannot be cited until twenty-four hours after a notice directing removal is attached to it, and after that further citations can follow without new notice. Once cited, the vehicle can be towed from a street where signage authorizing removal is posted, and a vehicle parked more than seventy-two consecutive hours is also subject to tow under § 11.32.060. Section 11.32.365 adds a three-hour limit for unattended heavy-duty detached trailers on commercial or industrial streets designated by council resolution where signs are posted.