Waterloo, IA Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Waterloo City Code section 6-7-3(D), part of the chapter governing off-street parking on residential properties, limits one- and two-family residential lots to no more than three recreational vehicles at a time. The code defines a recreational vehicle broadly as any vehicle whose primary purpose is recreation or entertainment rather than transportation, expressly including boats, trailers, campers, and motor homes. Visitor parking of an RV that does not belong to a resident is capped at 30 days per calendar year, after which it must be relocated.

Leasing space to store someone else's recreational vehicle is prohibited outright on any property carrying a residential dwelling as its primary use, closing off informal storage-lot arrangements in residential neighborhoods. Section 6-7-3(E) separately bars using any recreational vehicle as a temporary or permanent residence in Waterloo, except inside a conforming RV park or campground, or during the 30-day visitor window itself. Because subsection A's four-vehicle general cap for other vehicles specifically excludes recreational vehicles and their trailers, RVs are counted and limited separately from cars and trucks.

Community Planning and Development and the Waterloo Police Department enforce these limits alongside the surface and front-yard parking rules that apply to the same residential lots.