Rochester, MN Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

The council creates loading zones by designating and signing specific curb spaces, and three parallel provisions in chapter 11-6 govern who may stop there and for how long. Section 11-6-15 reserves truck loading zones for commercial vehicles only during the zone's posted hours, barring any non-commercial vehicle from parking there at all; a commercial vehicle may stop only to load or unload commodities, only as long as that task actually takes, and never longer than 30 minutes regardless of how quickly the loading finishes. Section 11-6-16 governs passenger loading zones the same way but for people rather than freight: only the expeditious loading or unloading of passengers is allowed, and the stop cannot exceed 15 minutes.

Section 11-6-17 covers combined passenger-and-commodity zones, applying the same 15-minute ceiling to whichever activity, passengers or freight, the vehicle is there for. All three limits run only during the hours the posted signage states are in effect; outside those hours, or on an unmarked curb the council has not designated as a loading zone, ordinary parking rules apply instead. The loading-zone rules sit alongside the broader special parking zone authority in § 11-6-14, which lets the council reserve curb space generally wherever public convenience or the exercise of the police power requires it.