Lakewood, WA Parking Rules: Overnight Parking (2026)

015, a Lakewood law enforcement officer, defined to include code enforcement officers and community service officers as well as police, who finds an unauthorized vehicle parked on the public right-of-way must attach a readily visible notification sticker rather than tow it immediately. That sticker has to show the date and time it was attached, the officer's identity, a warning that the vehicle may be impounded and stored at the owner's expense if not removed within 48 hours, a warning that leaving it constitutes the crime of littering, a gross misdemeanor, and contact information for more details.

If the vehicle carries a current license plate, the officer must run the plate and try to contact the registered owner. 085. The 48-hour clock is not tied to nighttime hours specifically: because the statute applies continuously, a vehicle left parked around the clock, including overnight, for more than two days is what triggers impoundment, which functions in practice as Lakewood's limit on how long a vehicle can sit unmoved on a city street. The section builds in a safety valve: a vehicle that poses no safety hazard can stay longer than 48 hours if the owner cannot move it and asks law enforcement for removal assistance instead. 00, applies in addition to the impoundment process. The current version dates to Ordinance 809 in 2024, amending 2008 and 2011 versions.