Chapel Hill, NC Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Section 21-35 of the Chapel Hill Code of Ordinances carves loading zones out of the downtown parking meter zones established under Section 21-29. Within those zones, operators of delivery vehicles may complete loading and unloading without depositing coins or paying at a meter or pay station, but only inside the curb spaces the ordinance lists by exact measurement. Most spaces carry a Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 30-minute limit, including stretches of North Columbia Street, West Franklin Street, East Franklin Street, Henderson Street, West Rosemary Street and North Graham Street; one space on West Franklin Street near Kenan Street instead carries a 20-minute limit, and a segment of East Rosemary Street is reserved for loading and unloading at any time with a 30-minute limit that applies all day.

Because these are curb-specific designations rather than a blanket downtown rule, a delivery vehicle parked outside the described boundaries loses the exemption and reverts to ordinary meter payment and time-limit rules under Sections 21-32 and 21-33. The town manager's parking enforcement staff cite vehicles that exceed the posted loading-zone time limit or that occupy a loading space without an active delivery in progress. Chapter 21's civil penalty schedule, Section 21-38(e), assesses a fifty dollar ($50.00) civil penalty for violations of the parking regulations of Articles IV and V of Chapter 21 that are not separately priced, which covers loading-zone overstays.

Unpaid penalties accrue a further ten dollar ($10.00) charge for each fourteen-day period after twenty-one days, capped at a total of seventy dollars ($70.00) for a fifty dollar violation under Section 21-38(h).