Columbia County, FL Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Section 4.2.18 of the Land Development Regulations defines major recreational equipment broadly to include boats, boat trailers, recreational vehicles, houseboats, and the cases or boxes used to transport such equipment, whether the equipment is loaded or not. The core rule bars using that equipment for living, sleeping, or housekeeping purposes anywhere it is parked or stored on a residential lot, or in any other unapproved location, closing off the common workaround of treating a driveway-parked RV as a guest suite. Placement is restricted by yard: in any zoning district that allows single-family residences, the equipment may go in a rear or side yard but never a required front yard, and a principal residential dwelling must already exist on the lot before the equipment can be stored there at all.

The section carves out one narrow exception for loading and unloading convenience: the equipment may be parked anywhere on the residential premises, including the front yard, for up to 24 hours while it is being loaded or unloaded. Beyond that 24-hour window, the equipment has to move to the rear or side yard. This section works alongside section 4.2.19, which separately requires that vehicles or trailers lacking current license plates be stored only in a fully enclosed building in residential districts, so an unregistered boat trailer faces the enclosed-building rule on top of the yard placement rule. The county Building and Zoning Department enforces yard placement complaints, typically triggered by a neighbor complaint or a code enforcement drive-by inspection.