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

CDO § 8.3.5.Q opens with the general vending-zone rule: food truck vendors may operate within all commercial, industrial, and mixed-use zoning districts, provided they follow any applicable conditional zoning approval or the standards in § 8.3.5.Q itself, and trucks may also operate within multi-family developments where parking is available. Several categories get expanded location rights regardless of the underlying zoning. Under § 8.3.5.Q.5.A, food trucks are permitted on the property of a religious institution, school, university, or hospital, and under § 8.3.5.Q.6.A they are permitted on city or county public park property, subject in both cases to the same service-area and temporary-use standards in §§ 8.3.5.Q.1, Q.2 and Q.7; park operators must additionally document approval from the City or County Parks and Recreation Department before a permit issues.

Inside the Center City Zoning District, § 8.3.5.Q.3.A confines trucks to private surface parking lots and bars them from any designated public parking space, publicly owned lot, or other public space unless the vending is tied to a City- or County-hosted special event. Section 8.3.5.Q.7 layers city-wide siting limits on top of the district rules: trucks must sit in a surface lot or a designated parking space (§ 8.3.5.Q.7.A), keep at least two dedicated parking spaces per operation (§ 8.3.5.Q.7.C), and, outside the Center City district, stay at least 50 feet from an existing single-family use (§ 8.3.5.Q.7.B) and at least 75 feet from the main entrance of the nearest operating restaurant during that restaurant's posted hours (§ 8.3.5.Q.7.H).

A truck must also leave its service area for at least six hours in every 24-hour period, defined as the window between 6:00 a.m. and 5:59 a.m. the next day (§ 8.3.5.Q.7.I).