Whatcom County, WA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

WCC § 20.80.220 governs what may be built inside a required setback. Subsection (1)(a) lists appurtenances the county allows in the front-yard setback despite the setback rule, including driveways and walkways, uncovered patios and decks under 30 inches tall, HVAC equipment, EV charging stations, septic systems, and propane tanks up to 500 gallons, plus fences, walls and hedges up to four feet high (six feet outside urban growth areas). Rear yards under subsection (2) allow driveways, walkways and parking areas as well, and side yards under subsection (3) must otherwise stay open except for the same list of driveways, walkways and parking areas. All of these placements still have to satisfy the vision-clearance rule in § 20.80.210(3).

For parcels inside the Water Resource Protection Overlay District, chiefly the Lake Whatcom watershed, § 20.71.603 goes further and lets a driveway skip hard paving altogether. Bark or wood mulch, washed gravel, grid or lattice systems, permeable interlocking pavers, pervious concrete and porous asphalt are all listed as approved alternative surfaces for driveways, private roads, fire lanes, walkways and patios, and Whatcom County public works, the fire marshal, and the ADA coordinator must review and approve the specific installation. Bark, mulch and washed-gravel surfaces must be engineered so a one-year, 24-hour storm event infiltrates without generating runoff; other alternative surfaces must follow the 2005 Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound, and no pervious-surface credit is given to a design relying on an underdrain.