Santa Rosa, CA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- White curb limit
- 5 minutes max
- Yellow curb hours
- 7am-6pm except Sunday
- Yellow curb loading cap
- 24 minutes
- Red curb
- no stopping except bus loading
- Blue curb
- disabled placard/plate required
- Default penalty
- infraction $250 first, $500 repeat
Summary
Santa Rosa marks curbs red, yellow, white and blue under City Code Chapter 11-20, and each color carries its own limit. White curbs allow only five minutes for passenger loading, yellow curbs permit commercial loading up to 24 minutes from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Sunday, red curbs bar all stopping except bus loading, and blue curbs are reserved for vehicles with a disabled placard or plate.
No person shall park any vehicle or cause, allow, permit or suffer any vehicle registered in his or her name or controlled by him or her to be parked adjacent to a curb painted white except for the purpose of loading or unloading passengers, and then only for the time actually necessary for the same, but not to exceed in any event five consecutive minutes.
Full Breakdown
030 sets the white-curb rule: no one may park next to a white-painted curb except to load or unload passengers, and only for the time actually necessary, capped at five consecutive minutes. 010 makes red curbs an absolute no-stop zone: a vehicle cannot be left standing, attended or not, next to a curb painted red or posted against stopping, standing or parking, with the single carve-out that a bus may stop at a red curb marked or posted as a bus loading zone. S. Postal Service vehicles, vehicles displaying the business name in at least two-inch lettering, or vehicles holding a City-issued commercial loading zone permit.
Yellow zones can be combined with metered or time-limited parking outside those commercial hours if the signs or meters spell out both schedules. 5 or to disabled veterans under Vehicle Code Section 9105, at any time of day. 010, designates, locates and removes red, blue, yellow and white curb zones within the downtown parking district, and the rules for each color take effect once the curb is painted or the required signs are posted.
Violations & Fines
Parking against any of these curb-color restrictions is an ordinance violation, and Section 1-28.010 sets the default penalty for any Title 11 offense not otherwise specified: a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and six months in County jail, though the City Attorney may instead charge it as an infraction, capped at $250 for a first conviction and $500 for a second or later conviction within one year. Vehicles may also be ticketed or towed by police.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can I park at a white curb in Santa Rosa?
Can I load freight at a yellow curb on Sunday?
Who can park at a blue curb?
What happens if I stop at a red curb?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Santa Rosa
California rules heatmap·Compare Santa Rosa to another location·View the California parking rules overview
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Curb Color Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Sonoma County handle curb color rules.