Nash County, NC Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

7 of the UDO requires off-street loading areas to sit on the same zone lot as the use they serve; a business cannot lease loading space somewhere else the way it sometimes can for parking. The minimum number of spaces is set by use in Table 11-2-1. Retail operations, including restaurant and dining space inside hotels and office buildings, need zero loading spaces up to 20,000 square feet of gross floor area, one space from 20,001 to 40,000 square feet, two from 40,001 to 75,000, three from 75,001 to 150,000, four from 150,001 to 250,000, and one more for every additional 250,000 square feet or fraction of it.

Industrial and wholesale operations follow a steeper table, starting at zero spaces below 10,000 square feet and adding a space roughly every 70,000 to 90,000 square feet as the building grows. Every loading space, whatever the use, has to measure at least twelve feet wide, sixty-five feet long, with fourteen feet of vertical clearance. 7(B)(3) requires every loading area to be arranged and marked for orderly, safe loading and unloading that does not block vehicle or pedestrian movement, and it flatly bars backing a truck in from the public road or maneuvering on the road right-of-way; all loading and unloading maneuvers have to happen on private property. 9 separately bars lighting in a loading area from unnecessarily illuminating a neighboring lot.