Janesville, WI Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Section 12-166(l) sets separate rules for non-motorized food vending carts distinct from motorized vehicles. Carts must stay stationary while selling, § 12-166(l)(1), and may set up in the public right-of-way outside the travel lane or on public terraces, § 12-166(l)(2). Under § 12-166(l)(5), carts are flatly prohibited from using, setting up in, or operating on public bike trails or public sidewalks anywhere in the City, with one narrow exception: in the B5 and B6 zoning districts, generally downtown, a cart may operate on the public sidewalk if no terrace area exists there and if a minimum five-foot pedestrian path is kept open for foot traffic.

Only one cart may operate at a time in a privately owned parking lot, and only with the lot owner's permission, § 12-166(l)(3). Any power source must be self-contained; no cable or equipment may run at grade across a City street, alley or sidewalk, § 12-166(l)(4). Cart vendors may sell frozen confectionaries, soda, bottled water and shaved ice anywhere in the community, but hot or prepared food only in conservancy, commercial or industrial zones, § 12-166(l)(7). Carts cannot operate before 8:00 a.m. or after dusk, except until 3:00 a.m. in B5 or B6, § 12-166(l)(8), and a cart cannot sit in one residential or office-zoned spot for more than 60 minutes, § 12-166(l)(11). Carts in City parks need a Recreation Director permit for the specific park area, § 12-166(l)(6).