Lexington, KY Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 15-12(c) of the Lexington-Fayette Code lists the places a peddler or itinerant merchant cannot work unless the urban county government authorizes it. Vending inside any urban county government park requires a permit under section 14-62; without one, park vending is off-limits. A vendor cannot set up in a spot that causes a section 17-5 sidewalk-obstruction violation or that draws crowds into a street, avenue or alley open to traffic, and cannot locate in any manner that restricts pedestrian access to another business or building.

1 carries its own separate prohibition. Subsection 15-12(d) piles additional restrictions onto itinerant merchants specifically: they may not locate in a Residential Zone or any zone where the underlying business would be prohibited under the zoning ordinance, and they cannot work within 100 feet of the property line of a dwelling in a Residential District under the Lexington-Fayette County Zoning Ordinance. An exception exists for locations owned or operated by religious, charitable, health, welfare, educational, political or youth-service organizations, or by neighborhood/homeowners' associations, when the vending activity is expressly permitted in writing. Vending on public property, including the right-of-way, additionally requires the location be formally designated for that use by resolution, ordinance or pilot program.