Aliso Viejo, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Stationary sidewalk vendors in the City of Aliso Viejo are prohibited from operating in any exclusively residential zone and can operate in nonresidential zones, including mixed use zones (§ 4.05.050). Hours track the neighbors: a stationary vendor works no earlier and no later than the businesses on the same street, and where no business on the street operates, only between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. of every day. Roaming vendors, who move from place to place and stop only to complete a transaction, follow set hours in residential zones: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the weekend (§ 4.05.070). In nonresidential zones they follow the same business-hours rule as stationary vendors.

Parks are treated separately. Stationary vending is prohibited in any city park and in any public open space area with a concession stand run by a vendor under exclusive contract with the city. Both roaming and stationary vending are prohibited in the Aliso Viejo Ranch. Elsewhere in city parks, vendors must meet § 4.05.045 and cease operations one hour prior to the close of the park (§ 4.05.060).

Section 4.05.045 adds distance buffers: 10 feet from a fire hydrant, fire escape, bus stop, loading zone, handicapped parking space, access ramp, or fire or police station driveway; 20 feet from the entrance of any building, store, theater, house of worship or place of public assembly; 500 feet from a certified farmers' market, swap meet or permitted event, and from any public or private elementary, junior high or high school; 200 feet from City Hall and any police or fire station; and two feet from another vendor. No vending is allowed in roadways, medians, pedestrian islands or bikeways. These rules cover sidewalk vendors as § 4.05.020 defines them, meaning sales from a pushcart, stand, display, pedal-driven cart, wagon, showcase, rack or other nonmotorized conveyance, or from one's person.