Birmingham, AL Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Birmingham Code of Ordinances Sec. 11-8-9 defines a 'driveway' as an area surfaced with concrete, asphalt, brick or stone pavers that connects to the public street through a curb cut and that must be permitted by the department of planning, engineering and permits before installation. Subsection (b) prohibits parking a motor vehicle, recreational vehicle, boat, trailer or similar wheeled conveyance in a residential front yard unless it sits on a paved, permitted driveway providing access to a carport or garage built into the house, or to a parking area entirely within the side or rear yard; a parallel rule bars unpermitted front-yard parking in commercial areas, and no vehicle may be parked over any part of a curb, sidewalk or unpaved right-of-way.

Subsection (c) allows front-yard parking for up to three hours in any 24-hour period while a vehicle is actively being loaded, unloaded or washed, exempts authorized emergency vehicles answering a call, protects historic-district land-use rules from being overridden, and treats a zoning board of adjustment variance as compliance. The mayor or a designee enforces the section by posting a citation on the offending vehicle's windshield; the property or registered owner has 30 calendar days to plead guilty and pay, after which the municipal court may summon, and ultimately issue a warrant for, a nonresponsive owner. City personnel may enter private property to ticket an offending vehicle under Ordinance No. 10-11, adopted February 4, 2010.