West Des Moines, IA Parking Rules: Commercial & Oversized Vehicles (2026)

West Des Moines City Code section 9-5-4(A)(1), in the Zoning Title's specific use regulations, lists the vehicles and equipment that count as prohibited commercial or industrial storage when parked or maintained in a residential zone: buses carrying more than nine passengers, ambulances, trucks over two tons of cargo capacity including dump trucks and garbage packers, oversized pickups and panel delivery trucks used commercially, trailers over twelve feet, truck-tractors and road tractors, and heavy construction equipment such as backhoes and graders. Parking any of these on a residential lot is itself a zoning violation unless the City finds it qualifies as an accessory use to a home occupation.

Section 9-5-4(B) sets tight conditions for that narrow exception: the vehicle or equipment must be owned or operated by the resident, limited to a single rear axle, stored inside a standard garage built for passenger cars with a door no taller than ten feet, concealed from public view at all times, and capped at one qualifying vehicle and one item of equipment per property. The chapter also excludes personal recreational vehicles, active on-site construction equipment during a job, and agricultural equipment on a residential parcel over ten acres from the ban entirely.

The parking chapter's own cross-reference at section 9-15-4(B)(3) points back to this chapter 5 standard rather than restating it, confirming that a commercial vehicle question in a residential zone is governed by section 9-5-4, not by the parking chapter's paving or setback rules. Development Services, which administers Title 9 zoning, and code enforcement staff investigate complaints and require the vehicle's removal or garaging when the accessory-use conditions are not met.