The City ordinance greatly expands where and how mobile food vendors can operate on private property in the City, including areas zoned for commercial, mixed-use, shopping centers, car lots, and industrial areas, and more.
Starting January 1, 2021, the City of Santa Rosa will allow for mobile food vendors to operate, with a minor conditional use permit, in more locations around the City. This expansion will permit mobile food vendors (taco trucks, chuck wagons, lunch carts, et al) to be able to offer food in and around the City without the previous pre-requisites that limited where they could sell.
Prior to this update, mobile food vendors in the City were allowed generally in two instances: (1) as part of an event with an approved Temporary Use Permit ; and (2) on private property located within the General Commercial zoning district along Sebastopol Road, between Stony Point Road and Olive Street, in the Roseland area.
This update to the ordinance allows for mobile food vendors to post in more places around the City as long as the vendor has an approved permit, approval from the property owner, and the vehicle is on private property within an approved zone and not within 300-feet of a residential district. These allowable zoned areas include:
- Community Shopping Center (CSC)
- Commercial Office (CO)
- Commercial Planned Development (PD)
- Core Mixed Use (CMU)
- General Commercial (CG)
- General Industrial (IG)
- Light Industrial (IL)
- Maker Mixed Use (MMU)
- Motor Vehicle Sales (CV)
- Neighborhood Commercial (CN)
- Neighborhood Mixed Use (NMU)
- Public/Institutional (PI)
- Station Mixed Use (SMU)
- Transit Village Mixed (TV-M)
For more information on how to obtain a permit, download and fill out a conditional use permit (make sure to check "minor") and use this checklist as a guide to get started. Click HERE for information on how to determine your zoning district.