Washington County, OR Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 430-135(J) covers what the code calls Mobile Food Sites (Small): pods of no more than eight mobile food units on a single developed lot. These qualify as a temporary use rather than a permanent development, but the county still requires a permit; Section 430-135(J)(4) sets that temporary permit's term at one calendar year from issuance, with the renewal application due before the existing permit expires. To get that permit, Section 430-135(J)(3) requires the applicant to submit documentation that Washington County Department of Health & Human Services sanitation and wastewater rules will be met, that the local fire protection district's fire code requirements will be met, that Clean Water Services' sanitary sewer and stormwater requirements will be met, water district documentation if connecting to a public system, and, if applicable, written approval from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, plus a site plan.

A larger operation, one with nine or more units, one that is not on an already-developed parking lot, one offering drive-in or drive-up service, or one that includes permanent buildings, falls instead under Section 430-81, Mobile Food Sites (Large), which is reviewed through a Type II land use procedure rather than the temporary-use track and carries its own setback standards, including 20 feet from any residential district boundary and 5 feet between individual mobile food units. Both tracks require the same core health, fire, and sanitation documentation.

These standards bind only mobile food sites in the unincorporated county; a food cart pod inside Hillsboro, Beaverton, or another city in the county is regulated under that city's own code.