La Habra, CA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Section 10.12.140, in the Traffic-Control Devices chapter, flatly bars anyone from painting any street or curb surface unless the city has authorized it. That authorization is normally exercised by the city traffic engineer under Section 10.20.020, who installs signs or paints curb surfaces to mark no-stopping zones, no-parking areas and restricted-parking areas. Those official curb colors matter because Section 10.20.030 repeatedly ties enforcement of "no stopping at any time" rules, at safety zones, mid-block crosswalk approaches, intersection crosswalks, and traffic-signal approaches, to whether the location is "indicated by appropriate signs or by red paint upon the curb surface." A curb without official red paint or signage is not a no-parking zone under those subsections, and a resident or business cannot create one by painting the curb themselves.

The only carved-out exception in Section 10.12.140 is for painting house or address numbers on a curb, and even that requires the painter to have first complied with whatever city resolution or ordinance governs curb-number painting, typically a business permit process rather than a free hand to paint. Unauthorized curb painting removes the visual cue the city relies on for parking enforcement and can mislead drivers about where stopping is actually restricted, which is why the code treats it as a standalone violation apart from any parking offense that results.