Durham, NC Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Section 10.6.5, Off-Street Loading Requirements, requires loading spaces for any commercial establishment larger than 20,000 square feet, plus industrial plants, wholesale establishments, warehouses, freight terminals and hospitals; smaller uses may provide loading spaces but are not required to. Spaces can sit inside or outside the building, on the same lot or an adjoining one. The hours restriction is narrow and location-specific: 'Any loading area outside of the DD District located adjacent to a residential use shall not receive deliveries between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.' Loading areas inside the Downtown Design (DD) District are exempt from the curfew. The section also bars use of the loading area in a way that would hinder pedestrian or vehicle movement, and prohibits vehicle repair or servicing at a loading facility in any district.

Physical standards layer on top of the curfew. Under Sec. 10.6.1, no loading space may sit within 30 feet of a street intersection (20 feet in the CI District or Design Districts), measured from the back of curb. Sec. 10.6.5.F sets a minimum space of 10 feet by 25 feet with 14 feet of vertical clearance. Sec. 10.6.7 requires a 50-foot setback wherever a loading dock faces a residential district or a building with ground-floor residential use, unless the dock is fully screened by a wall meeting Sec. 9.9, Fences and Walls. Sec. 10.6.2 requires all-weather paving, and Sec. 10.6.6 layers on vehicular-area landscaping and screening from streets and adjacent residential property.

The Planning Director or a designee enforces Article 10 loading standards under UDO Article 15, Enforcement, citywide and in the unincorporated county area the joint UDO also covers.