Raleigh, NC Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Raleigh's Unified Development Ordinance creates the -SRPOD overlay (UDO Sec. 1) specifically to control front-yard parking on lots used for single- or two-unit living inside neighborhoods where the City Council has mapped the overlay. Within an -SRPOD, any vehicular surface area built after July 19, 2012 must be a permanent, nonerodible surface, poured concrete, asphalt, pavers, or at least 4 inches of crushed stone with anchored edging, and, except for circular drives, it cannot sit in front of the home's primary entrance. The surface area itself is capped: the front yard's linear depth times 12 feet plus 380 square feet, or 40% of the front yard, whichever is less (or a circular/semi-circular drive no wider than 12 feet with the same square-footage cap).

Once those surfaces are defined, the ordinance is explicit that no vehicle, expressly defined to include a passenger vehicle, truck, van, motorized recreation vehicle, camper, golf cart, boat trailer or car trailer, may be parked or stored in the front yard outside them, except for vehicles actively being loaded, unloaded, washed or repaired, or short-term parking approved under the ordinance's temporary-parking permit. That temporary permit lets an owner get a one-time, 90-day allowance per three-year period to park on grass or another non-conforming surface. Outside a mapped -SRPOD, the UDO does not carry an equivalent citywide front-yard RV/boat storage ban; only the general vehicular-surface-area and driveway standards for the underlying zoning district apply.