Dearborn Heights, MI Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

The City of Dearborn Heights regulates where mobile food vendors and street peddlers may operate under Chapter 22 of the City Code, Article II, Division 1. Sec. 22-30 makes it unlawful for any street vendor, huckster or peddler to park, stand or stop a vehicle to make a sale within 500 feet of any school or church property, and bars selling to anyone standing in a street or roadway. Sec. 22-31 adds a traffic-safety layer: a vendor's vehicle cannot remain stopped or parked for more than 15 minutes except in an emergency, and it cannot stop or park within 60 feet of any intersection, because the code finds lingering near intersections a traffic hazard.

Beyond these fixed distances, Sec. 22-34 gives the city council discretionary authority to designate specific streets, street segments, districts or areas as closed to street vending altogether, whenever congested traffic conditions or the character of the neighborhood make the business a public nuisance. Every vendor also needs the Sec. 22-51 street vendor license administered by the city clerk before setting up at all, so a licensee under Division 2 can still be barred from a specific block under Division 1's siting rules. The Dearborn Heights Police Department enforces the siting restrictions alongside the Building and Engineering Department, which handles the underlying vendor licensing.

Because Chapter 22 is a Class A classified chapter under Sec. 1-11(e), violating any of these siting restrictions is a municipal civil infraction carrying a $100 fine for a first offense, $200 for a second offense within one year, and $400 for a third or subsequent offense within one year, payable through the city's Municipal Ordinance Violations Bureau at city hall.