Highland, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

HMC § 5.04.375 covers anyone who vends from a vending cart or from one's person on a public sidewalk, parkway, pedestrian path or other public right-of-way. Vending includes selling, offering or displaying food, beverages, goods or merchandise. A vending cart is a nonmotorized conveyance that is not a California Vehicle Code vehicle. The permit application goes to the community development director with a nonrefundable processing fee set by City Council resolution. It must include a copy of a Highland business license, a California seller's permit number, proof of liability insurance, and whether the applicant is stationary or roaming. A food vendor adds a food handler course certificate and proof of all required approvals from the San Bernardino County department of public health.

The director approves the permit unless the application is false in a material detail, is incomplete after a request for more information, or shows the applicant cannot meet the operating standards. Denial comes with written reasons. The permit lasts 12 months, is not transferable, and can be rescinded for a fourth or later violation. An appeal goes to the City Council through the city clerk within 15 days of the director's decision.

Location limits: no vending within 15 feet of a street intersection, 10 feet of a fire hydrant, fire call box or other emergency facility, 10 feet of a driveway or apron, or 20 feet of a bus or transit stop. Vendors cannot work in a roadway or median, in a city parking lot, or on private property without the owner's consent. Vending is barred within 500 feet of a permitted certified farmers' market, swap meet or permitted special event during its operation, and within 500 feet of a school site during school hours and the hour before and after drop-off and pick-up. Vendors keep at least three feet of clearance on sidewalks.

Hours: roaming vendors in residential areas work between dawn and dusk; in commercial areas the limit cannot be more restrictive than the hours of other businesses on the same street within one-half mile; in parks, only during hours open to the public. Stationary vendors cannot operate in exclusively residential zones. Food vendors supply a trash receptacle, clear trash within a 15-foot radius before leaving, and display a county health permit in plain view on the cart.