Stanislaus could OK truck parking restrictions, take action against illegal sites
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- Supervisors will weigh stricter truck parking rules to curb safety and farm impacts.
- Amendments limit home sites, cap facilities near highways and impose permits.
- County will enforce violations, abate illegal lots and place liens on owners.
Stanislaus County supervisors on Tuesday will consider amendments to rules governing commercial truck parking facilities in the agriculture zone.
County officials over the past five years have heard increasing complaints about unpermitted parking of semi-trucks and trailers in unincorporated areas. The complaints run the gamut from traffic safety on country roads to noise, wear and tear on roads and interference with farming.
A committee comprising county Supervisor Vito Chiesa and Planning Commission chairwoman Carmen Morad has studied the problem since January and developed amendments with input from residents, trucking business owners and advisory committees.
The American Trucking Association contends that a nationwide lack of truck parking facilities forces truck drivers to park in unauthorized locations.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors will consider amended rules for truck owners who apply for home occupation business licenses and truck parking use permits. In December, the board will consider land-use regulations for larger truck parking facilities that would require a general plan amendment.
A current ordinance that allows parking of three tractor-trailer rigs and three trailers at a rural home would be amended to permit one tractor-trailer and two trailers .
Another amendment would allow no more than two permitted truck parking facilities within a mile of a state highway or interstate freeway, as the county tries to avoid concentrations of commercial uses. The amendment would prevent concentrations of truck parking sites farther out from highways by limiting parking facilities to no more than one within a mile radius.
County governing bodies could make an exception if a new parking site is separated from another by a highway, river, railroad or some other physical barrier.
The county still will allow up to 12 tractor-trailers and 24 trailers if a site is approved for a use permit. The vehicles must be registered in California.
Supervisors will consider other amended rules, including:
- A new requirement that restrooms be provided for drivers and employees.
- The business operator must be the property owner and have lived on the site for at least six months.
- A parcel size limit of 10 acres for a parking facility.
- The parking area must not exceed 50% of the overall parcel size.
- Facilities can use graveled parking but there’s a new requirement for pavement in areas that haven’t been in ag production in recent years.
- No on-site maintenance, truck washes, powered refrigerated trailers or stockpiling of parts or tires.
- An added requirement of payment of impact fees for roadways.
- For home occupation permits, new restrictions would prohibit on-site maintenance or storage.
Use permits meeting the requirements will be approved for five years, with extensions through staff approvals for facilities that comply with permit conditions.
If approved Tuesday, the proposed amendments would apply to use permit applications that haven’t been considered yet by the Planning Commission. The amendments also would apply to new home occupation businesses or reapplications from businesses whose renewal has lapsed.
Right now, the county is reviewing four applications for truck parking use permits, none of which would qualify under the ordinance amendment criteria to prevent a concentration of facilities, a county staff report said, or the parcels are larger than the 10-acre limit.
In a consent item Tuesday, the supervisors could take action against a truck parking site in the 2500 block of Lander Avenue near Turlock. In August 2024, the county Department of Environmental Resources verified a complaint of truck parking on the property with an expired home occupation permit, the agenda report says.
According to the county, the responsible individuals have not complied with county orders to correct the violations. More than a dozen code enforcement inspections were conducted between September 2024 and October of this year.
An aerial photo in the agenda report reveals two parked semi-trucks and 15 trailers enclosed by fencing and an electric gate. The county’s cost of abating the nuisance can be charged to the property owner and a lien recorded against the property.
The board also could take action to abate unpermitted truck and trailer parking at seven other sites, on Golf Road in Turlock; South Sperry Road in Denair; East Barnhart and Esmar roads, Ceres; Bangs Avenue, Modesto; Patterson Road in Riverbrank and Sycamore Avenue near Patterson.
The county Board of Supervisors meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the basement chamber of Tenth Street Place, at 1010 10th St., Modesto.
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:08 PM.
