Waco, TX Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 25-199, first adopted by Ordinance No. 2000-71 in November 2000 and amended in 2001 and again by Ordinance No. 2014-435 in August 2014, targets vehicles parked directly on dirt, grass, or gravel in front of a house. It applies only to the front yard or side corner yard of property used for single-family residential purposes, and it requires that any vehicle stopped or parked there sit on an "all-weather surface" as defined in Section 28-1019(d) of the zoning code. The ordinance carves out two exceptions.

First, an "existing driveway" is exempt: the code defines that as a clearly defined area where the soil has been compacted from extended use so that it does not rut in wet weather, reached by an existing curb cut where curb and gutter are present, provided those conditions existed before the prohibition took effect. Second, front or side yards used as part of a temporary commercial parking facility permitted by right under Chapter 28 are exempt entirely. A companion provision, Section 25-200, gives a driver an affirmative defense to prosecution if the vehicle was only stopped in the yard temporarily to load or unload people or property, rather than parked there for storage.

The rule does not reach backyards or properties that are not single-family residential, and it says nothing about vehicles already parked on a paved driveway, which qualifies as an all-weather surface on its own.