Sonoma, CA Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Sonoma Municipal Code § 10.20.090 makes unauthorized curb or street painting unlawful citywide, with a single carve-out for painting address numbers on a curb, which remains subject to the city's own numbering rules. The color-coding itself is controlled elsewhere in Title 10: the public works superintendent maintains no-stopping and no-parking zones "by appropriate signs or by paint upon the curb surface" under § 10.48.030, and a red curb specifically requires signage at least 24 hours before it takes effect under § 10.48.040. Loading-zone colors are set by § 10.52.010: yellow paint marks a general loading zone, and white paint marks a passenger loading zone.

Section 10.52.020 then defines what each color means to a driver: red bars stopping, standing or parking at any time except as the Vehicle Code allows (a bus may still stop in a marked bus zone); yellow bars stopping between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on any day but Sunday or a holiday for anything other than loading; white permits only passenger loading or a mail drop of no more than three minutes in that same daily window; and green bars standing longer than 15 minutes at any time on any day.

Because only the traffic engineer or public works superintendent may apply these markings, a homeowner who paints their own curb red to discourage parking is violating § 10.20.090 regardless of intent. This provision is current through Ordinance 13-2025, passed December 3, 2025.