El Monte, CA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

080 of Title 17 sets the paving and parking standards that apply to every residential driveway in the city. The paved portion of the front yard and any required street side yard, including driveways and walkways, is capped at 40 percent of that yard area, and the code is explicit that vehicle parking shall be limited to approved paved areas, with no parking allowed on landscaped areas. Surfacing has to meet a minimum engineering standard: asphaltic concrete at least 3 inches thick over a 6-inch aggregate base, or Portland cement concrete at least 5 inches thick over a 3-inch aggregate base.

The Public Works Director can require a thicker section if the soils report or expected traffic calls for it. For multifamily projects, the city can approve permeable paving or turf grids for low-traffic or infrequently used areas through a Director Level Zoning Clearance, but ordinary single-family driveways do not qualify for that exception. Driveways must also be built and maintained so a vehicle entering or leaving is visible to an approaching pedestrian from at least 10 feet away, and no vehicle may be parked on or extend over a public sidewalk or parkway right-of-way.

Except for a vehicle leaving a single-family driveway, cars are not allowed to back directly into a public street. Driveway width is separately regulated: a single-family home is limited to one driveway at a 10-foot minimum width, while multi-unit projects scale up to a 15-foot minimum for five or more units, capped at 20 feet in the front or street side yard. Circular driveways are allowed only on R-1 lots with at least 70 feet of street frontage and no more than two dwellings.