Amid rise in illegal truck parking, Stanislaus sets meeting to consider new rules
At a meeting Wednesday, Stanislaus County planners will provide an overview of proposed requirements and regulations for truck parking facilities.
The county Planning and Community Development Department is inviting trucking business owners, property owners and concerned residents to the informational meeting set for 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Harvest Hall, room DE, 3800 Cornucopia Way, in south Modesto.
The county is holding the meeting for trucking business and property owners who wish to develop parking facilities in agricultural zones and also for residents concerned about associated problems. No decisions will be made at Wednesday’s public outreach meeting before a county-appointed committee that has studied truck parking issues for months.
Controversy has swirled around a proliferation of permitted and illegal truck parking facilities in unincorporated areas. In the past several years, commercial trucking businesses that haul regular freight, not agricultural products, increasingly have parked trucks and trailers on rural parcels in Stanislaus County.
The demand for truck parking has far outstripped the number of legal parking facilities, and public complaints about illegally parked trucks have intensified. Farming advocates complain that truck parking interferes with nearby farm operations, pollutes the ground, increases truck traffic and noise, and causes wear and tear on roads.
County planning staff will unveil proposed modifications to an existing truck parking ordinance. One proposed change would limit new home-occupation permits in an agricultural zone to one tractor-trailer rig rather than three.
Other proposed amendments would prohibit oil changes and truck washing, and also would define what a “concentration” of parking facilities means in the county ordinance, staff said. The proposed rule for new applications would be no more than two truck parking facilities within a one-mile distance of a state highway or interstate.
Once the committee recommends changes to the ordinance, the amendments will be reviewed by the county’s general plan update committee and the Planning Commission. The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the new regulations in November.
In December 2024, county supervisors postponed a decision for nine months on two proposed truck parking facilities to allow time for the committee to study the issue.
The proposals included Pattar Trucking’s application for an 80-space commercial tractor-trailer parking facility on West Taylor Road near Turlock. Supervisors also postponed a decision on a 40-space truck parking facility in the 1000 block of Welty Road, west of Highway 33, near Vernalis, proposed by Atwal Properties.
Pattar Trucking was cited in 2019 for parking rigs at its site near Turlock in violation of the county ordinance. That led to code enforcement action and an application to legalize the facility, according to a county staff report.
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM.
