Rockdale County, GA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Sec. 222-11(b) of the Unified Development Ordinance sets the general parking-location rule for every residential zoning district in unincorporated Rockdale County: any vehicle must be parked within a garage, driveway, or carport, or within a side or rear yard. The only carve-out is for moving vans that are actively loading or unloading, which can park elsewhere on the property temporarily while that work is underway. The rule applies on top of, not instead of, the separate commercial-vehicle ban in Sec. 222-11(a), so the same subsection also repeats that commercial vehicles remain prohibited in residential districts unless the section itself authorizes them.

In practice, this means a car, truck, RV, or boat sitting directly on a front lawn, on gravel or dirt that is not a recognized driveway surface, or anywhere that is not the garage, driveway, carport, or the side or rear yard, is out of compliance regardless of whether the vehicle itself is otherwise legal to own or drive. The Department of Planning and Development's code enforcement officers and Rockdale County Sheriff's deputies share responsibility for enforcing Sec. 222-11 under Sec. 222-11(d): a violator first gets a written warning notice giving five days to correct the parking location, delivered by mail to the property owner of record or attached to the vehicle if the owner cannot be identified.

If the vehicle remains after five days, the property owner or vehicle owner can be cited, and the county is authorized to tow the vehicle at the owner's expense. A property owner already cited for the same violation within the past 12 months can be cited again immediately, without a new warning period, and each day the violation continues is treated as a separate offense.