Plymouth, MN Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Plymouth's off-street parking chapter sets a firm surfacing standard for driveways. Under City Code Section 21135.07, Subd. 1(a), all exposed parking areas and driveways citywide must be surfaced with asphalt, concrete, or an equivalent surfacing material, which the Zoning Administrator may approve to include porous pavement options. The only carve-out applies to the FRD (Future Restricted Development) District and to residential uses in the RSF-1 and RSF-2 Districts: for those properties, parking areas and driveways located within front yards may instead use asphalt, concrete, class 5 gravel, or another surfacing material the Zoning Administrator approves. Everywhere else, gravel and unpaved surfaces do not satisfy the ordinance.

Beyond the surface material itself, Subd. 1(b) sets minimum structural tonnage standards for the pavement section: drive aisles must be built to a seven-ton standard and parking stalls to a five-ton standard, unless the Zoning Administrator requires or exempts a different standard for a particular site. These construction standards feed directly into the setback rules cross-referenced in Subd. 3(a), which ties front, side and rear setbacks for parking areas back to the dimensional table in Subd. 5(f), and into Subd. 2's requirement that any lot with four or more required spaces be striped with durable painted lines and edged with continuous curb and gutter around the paved area, including drives, unless the Zoning Administrator grants an exception. Snow storage capacity must also be built into the design under Subd. 4(d) so the required number of spaces stays usable year-round.