Burlington, NC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 24-41 of Chapter 24's mobile food vendor article, adopted by Ordinance No. 2014-07A and carried forward through the 2022 amendment, sets proximity limits on where a permitted food truck or pushcart may sit even before zoning districts come into play. Subsection (1) bars any food truck or pushcart from operating within one hundred feet of any school, religious institution or cemetery. Subsection (4) separately bars locating within seventy-five feet of the main entrance of any restaurant during that restaurant's business hours, unless the restaurant itself authorizes the vendor to set up closer.

Both distances apply regardless of the underlying zoning district, so a vendor otherwise permitted to operate in an area can still be pushed out by a nearby school, church, cemetery or restaurant entrance. The section immediately following, Section 24-42, tells vendors that the districts in which food trucks and pushcarts are permitted to locate at all, along with the operating standards specific to those districts, are contained in the Unified Development Ordinance's Standards for Specific Temporary Uses rather than in this chapter, so a vendor must check that separate zoning document to confirm a given parcel is eligible before applying the Section 24-41 proximity rules.

Every mobile vendor must also hold the temporary use permit required by Section 24-37 and Alamance County Health Department approval under Section 24-39 before the location restrictions matter at all. A violation of the proximity limits in Section 24-41 is enforced the same as any other operating-requirements violation, under Section 24-44, and carries a one hundred dollar civil penalty, collectible as a civil debt if not paid within ten days.