Santa Barbara County, CA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

100(G), Standards for Residential Zones, Exterior Parking, governs where and how vehicles can be kept outside a garage or fully screened structure. It applies to the parking, keeping, or storage of both operative and inoperative motor vehicles and recreational vehicles, and works alongside County Code Chapter 17 (Solid Waste Services), Chapter 19 (Junk Yards and Dumps), and Chapter 23 (Motor Vehicles and Traffic). A Land Use Permit generally isn't required for exterior parking unless the subsection itself demands one or the parking involves new or altered structures.

050. Those vehicles can sit on a driveway, including the part of the driveway inside a required front or side setback, but conditions apply: the paved portion must carry at least two inches of asphalt, concrete, masonry pavers, or an equivalent pervious material on a suitable base; the width of any driveway portion inside a front setback cannot exceed 50 percent of that lot's adjacent street frontage for each frontage, though a driveway is always allowed to be at least 10 feet wide even if that exceeds the 50 percent cap, and a wider driveway can be approved where County or fire-district access rules require it; and all setback parking must sit within one contiguous area per street frontage.

(1)(d) bars parking an RV within a front setback area no matter how much frontage the lot has. b allows additional operative or inoperative vehicles registered to a resident of the lot, subject to further vehicle-count and area limits tied to lot size.