Rancho Cordova, CA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

RCMC § 23.716.060(A) (Residential Landscape) governs how much of a single-family or two-family lot's front yard can be covered in driveway, parking, or walkway pavement. No more than 40 percent of the front yard area can be nonpervious surface, a category the code defines to include sidewalks, driveways, and parking. The remaining portion of the front yard has to stay landscaped, irrigated, and maintained rather than simply left as bare or paved ground.

The same subsection requires driveway pavement to sit at least five feet off the side property line, creating a strip for landscaping between neighboring lots; that setback specifically excludes pedestrian walkways running from the driveway to the side yard, so a walkway can cross closer to the line than the driveway pavement itself. Because these are objective, code-defined limits rather than discretionary findings, the city allows deviations only through the site plan and architecture review process for small-lot single-family developments, and only when the standard genuinely cannot be met due to the lot's design, per the same subsection. The rule sits inside Chapter 23.716 RCMC's residential landscape requirements, which apply citywide to new single-family and two-family construction covered by RCMC § 23.716.020 (Applicability).