Vanderburgh County, IN Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

24 "Off-Street Parking and Loading" of the county's Title 17 zoning code, sets the baseline paving standard for parking areas: parking area and access drives must be installed and maintained with a hard and sealed surface, except for residences and agricultural uses in R-1, R-2 and AG zoning where any durable surface is permitted. That residential and agricultural carve-out is what lets a homeowner or farm on an R-1, R-2, or AG parcel keep a gravel or other durable driveway and parking pad instead of pouring asphalt or concrete.

The section also lists commercial exceptions for uses such as mini-storage facilities, cell towers, campgrounds, and equipment or manufactured-housing dealers, which may use gravel meeting INDOT Number 53 stone specifications at a minimum six-inch depth beyond the first fifty feet from the public way, provided a tree buffer zone screens the unpaved area. Beyond the surface material, the same section requires parking areas to be graded and drained so water does not flow onto neighboring properties or sidewalks, and requires off-street parking to be kept free of weeds, trash, and debris under subsection C.

Because this is a Title 17 zoning provision, it applies only within the unincorporated area of Vanderburgh County that the county's zoning jurisdiction covers; parking surface rules inside Evansville or Darmstadt are set by those cities' own zoning codes, not this county section.