Hialeah, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 98-1681(d) confines mobile food dispensing vehicles on private property to three zoning districts: C-2 liberal retail commercial, TOD transit-oriented development, and NBD neighborhood business, and only where an existing parking variance was not granted or existing parking already conforms to current parking regulations. Siting there triggers administrative site plan approval from the planning and zoning department, reviewed by building, streets, fire, and police, covering vehicle location, garbage disposal, dining furniture layout, sidewalk connectivity, sanitary facilities, and emergency access; drive-up sales are flatly prohibited and every sale must be pedestrian walk-up.

The truck cannot occupy site parking spaces without owner and city agreement, must remove all its own waste, fat, oil, and grease when it leaves, cannot use flashing or strobe lighting or loud music, bullhorns, or amplification to draw attention, cannot carry signage beyond the truck itself, and cannot park overnight on-site. Subsection (e) opens a second track for the public right-of-way: use of the right-of-way for any period is processed strictly first-come, first-served by the city, with the private-property siting requirements applying where relevant.

Subsection (g) then layers a citywide safety buffer on top of both tracks: no mobile food dispensing vehicle may operate within a 500-foot radius of a gas station or any combustible energy source, unless there is a protective structure within 50 feet of the property line or an eight-foot, two-hour fire-rated masonry wall next to the truck. Separately, every truck must keep at least ten feet of clearance from buildings, structures, property lines, vehicles, or combustible materials, and at least 12 feet from any means-of-egress opening in every direction.