Escondido, CA Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Municipal Code § 28-206 authorizes the city traffic engineer to determine and mark loading zones and passenger loading zones in the central traffic district or any business district, and elsewhere in front of the entrance to any place of business, hall, or place used for public assembly. Division 4 as a whole must be enforced to accommodate necessary and reasonable loading or unloading, without permitting abuse of the privilege granted (§ 28-203). Once the traffic engineer has placed legible curb markings, no person may stop, stand, or park a vehicle adjacent to that marking in violation of the division (§ 28-204).

The traffic engineer may also issue special permits letting a vehicle back up to the curb to load or unload merchandise, subject to conditions the engineer sets, and any permit may be revoked for violating its special terms (§ 28-205). No more than half of the total curb length in any block may be reserved for loading zone purposes (§ 28-208), and every loading zone must be marked with a yellow line stenciled in black letters reading "LOADING ONLY" along the top of the curb (§ 28-209).

"Loading zone" is defined in § 28-1 as the curb space reserved exclusively for vehicles loading or unloading passengers or materials, and "bus" is separately defined in § 28-202 to mean any motor bus, motor coach, trackless trolley coach, or passenger stage operating as a common carrier, relevant to zones marked for bus loading. except Sundays and holidays, limited to 3 minutes for passengers or 20 minutes for materials), a vehicle exceeding those windows in a marked zone violates both § 28-204 and § 28-207.