Moving truck permit in Berkeley
Hi there,
We are moving to Berkeley in June from the east coast and are trying to find information on how to block off the parking spaces in front of our house for the moving truck. I've searched this site, but the links provided are no longer active and searching the city's site hasn't gotten me very far. Does anyone have any experience with this and willing to provide tips?
Thanks so much!
Apr 29, 2023
Parent Replies
Welcome to Berkeley! The temporary no parking permit form is under Construction, not Parking, on the city's page, which is confusing. https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/permits-design-paramete…
When we moved here in Jan. 2020, we completed it in person at the Civic Center -- not sure if you can do it online now. I guess you would still need to pick up the signs in person to post on your street.
Hi and welcome to Berkeley! I moved from NY a few years ago so this info may be a little out of date, but still likely/hopefully somewhat helpful:
You definitely need to get a permit for the street in advance for a few reasons: 1) if there’s no sign because no permit, anyone can park there, so you won’t have a guaranteed spot, 2) your pod or truck won’t have a parking permit, so it can be ticketed like a car after 2 hours, and 3) probably most important if you're using a POD, when I last used a POD, the company wouldn’t deliver without a permit and signs for those reasons.
You may also need to confirm with the company whether one spot or two is needed. It’s not just the length of the pod/truck vs how many 20 ft parking spots. They need maneuvering room, so you may need to get an extra spot for that reason.
As I said, I did this a few years ago and the city recently updated their website so I don’t have a link to send you. I tried looking but the new website is terrible. It sounds like you also couldn't find anything on there, so this is the number I called several years ago… it may still be correct but I don’t know. 510-981-7500
Also, it takes a while to get the whole thing done (permit app sent in, accepted, issued, signs printed, signs picked up, you install signs 3 days in advance), so I suggest making some calls to the city ASAP. If the number above doesn't work, just try calling any number and then get them to transfer you to the right place. And if you don't have anyone here to pick up the signs and put them out 3 days in advance, I would suggest joining the Berkeley Family Friends facebook group and seeing if someone on there would be willing to do it for you for free as a neighborly thing to do. Good luck!
Thanks so much - this is incredibly helpful!
I will add a tip from when we moved last year: you need to BYOC - Bring Your Own Cones - for the "no parking" signs. We didn't have cones, and tried putting the sign on a permanent signpost but no one saw it, so it wasn't effective. Obvious in hindsight but easy to overlook in the midst of a move!
Welcome to Berkeley,
I recently went through the process of getting the temporary no parking signs in preparation for our recent move.
The advice on this thread matches my experience with one exception. Make sure you receive your permit number before you go pick up the signs at Permits. I’ll just say I had an enlightening experience when I went to pick them up w/o the permit number.
A few days before I went into Permits I received a phone call from someone in Permits telling me to come pick them up, but for some reason my file had not generated a permit number.
The intake person on the 2nd floor had a few terse words for me when I didn’t have the permit number. Luckily for me my request was in order and the person handling it was kind enough to print them.