Jefferson County, MO Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

130 adopted April 2, 2008, requires any business use, retail, industrial, hospital, institutional or hotel, that is constructed, reconstructed or expanded in any zoning district to provide vehicle facilities for loading and unloading merchandise and goods within or adjacent to the building. The ordinance gives the property owner or occupant discretion over exactly how the space is laid out, so long as it is adequate for the use. Two categories are carved out entirely: convenience stores (C-stores) and office buildings need not provide dedicated loading facilities under this section.

Whatever loading area is built must be screened per Article XIV, Landscaping, Buffers and Tree Protection, which sets buffer and planting standards for commercial sites. The section's central operational limit is functional rather than a fixed dimension: loading facilities cannot obstruct the free flow of vehicle or pedestrian traffic on public streets, sidewalks or alleys, meaning a truck idling in a public right-of-way to load goods, or a dock positioned so delivery trucks back across a sidewalk, would run afoul of the rule. As with the rest of Article XII, this requirement is a zoning standard reviewed at site-plan and building-permit stage in unincorporated Jefferson County; it does not apply inside Arnold, Festus, Hillsboro or the county's other incorporated cities, which review loading design under their own codes.