St. Petersburg, FL Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

3 of the Land Development Regulations sets the physical standards a driveway or parking area must meet before a vehicle can legally sit on it in a residential front or street side yard. Every passenger vehicle parked in those yards has to sit on a 'legally recognized' driveway, apron, or permeable parking area, anything else is a Code violation regardless of whether the surface predates the ordinance. The surface itself has to be wide enough to catch the tires of vehicles using it. Paver, brick or turf-block surfaces must use whole, unbroken pieces installed flush with their neighbors.

Asphalt or poured concrete has to stay in good repair, with no crack or void wider than one inch. Loose material, mulch, rock or gravel, must be homogeneous, laid at least four inches deep, kept void-free, contained with wood landscaping timbers or POD-approved border material, and maintained so it doesn't wash or scatter into the yard or right-of-way. Where any of these surfaces meet a sidewalk, walkway, curb or apron, they must stay level with it, or with the highest point of the curb. Except for turf block, surfaces must stay free of vegetation growing through them, and turf that grows through turf block can't exceed ten inches.

An apron running wider than 20 feet along the street at any point in the right-of-way must be brought into current compliance, as must any apron whose surface or border materials aren't continuously maintained, show voids or deterioration, or let material wash out into the yard or right-of-way. Driveways legally built before this section took effect that don't meet it must still be brought into full compliance.