Murrieta, CA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 10.44.020(D) folds ordinary driveway parking into the same chapter that restricts RVs and commercial vehicles: it is unlawful to park, keep, store, or leave standing any passenger vehicle, as defined in Chapter 10.08, on private or public property within the city unless that parking happens on a pre-engineered load-bearing surface. Practically, that means a paved driveway, an approved concrete or asphalt pad, or another engineered surface, not a lawn, a graded dirt strip, or a gravel patch. The section states flatly that parking on an unimproved or non-paved lot is prohibited.

The Rural Residential (RR) and Estate Residential (ER-1) zoning designations are expressly carved out of the paving requirement, reflecting the larger, often unpaved lots typical of those districts. Everywhere else in the city, a homeowner who parks a car on a dirt side yard or an ungraded strip beside the driveway, rather than on the paved surface itself, is out of compliance even though the same vehicle would be legal parked in the garage or on the driveway apron. The requirement pairs with Section 10.44.020(F)'s separate sightline rule, which lets the city order a vehicle relocated if it blocks a neighbor's view of the public right-of-way from a driveway or front yard.