Marietta, GA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- Max operating days
- 1 day at a time, 3 per year
- Owner permission
- Written permission required
- Permit needed
- Temporary use permit, Director of Development Services
- Right-of-way or city property
- Not allowed unless City authorizes
- Variance authority
- City Council only, not Board of Zoning Appeals
Summary
Marietta allows a mobile retail food establishment on residential property for up to 3 days a year, one day at a time, with the property owner's written permission and a temporary use permit from the Director of Development Services, under Section 708.01(C)(6). The Board of Zoning Appeals cannot grant variances to these rules; only City Council can.
6.Mobile retail food establishments shall be allowed on property zoned R-1 according to the restrictions listed below:a)Written permission of the property owner is obtained.b)Such use does not last longer than 1 day and no more than 3 days annually.c)These uses are not located within any public right-of-way or City-owned property, unless otherwise authorized by the City.d)Adequate paved parking, ingress and egress are provided on site.e)A temporary use permit is applied for and approved by the Director of the Department of Development Services.f)The Board of Zoning Appeals shall not issue and are not granted the authority to issue variances to any of the regulations relating to mobile retail establishments; all such variance requests must be submitted to City Council.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 56).
Full Breakdown
04). Before a vendor can set up, the operator needs the written permission of the property owner where the truck will park, and the use is capped at 1 day at a time, with no more than 3 days total in a calendar year on that property. The truck cannot operate in a public right-of-way or on City-owned property unless the City separately authorizes it, and the site has to provide adequate paved parking plus safe ingress and egress for customers. A temporary use permit from the Director of the Department of Development Services is required before the vendor opens for business; there is no by-right operation without it.
01(E) instead of the Board's usual process. Outside these residential-district conditions, Chapter 8's business-license and occupation-tax provisions separately regulate the mobile food vendor's underlying business license, but that licensing layer is a different chapter from the zoning conditions quoted here.
Violations & Fines
Operating without the property owner's written permission, without the Development Services Director's temporary use permit, or beyond the 1-day, 3-day-per-year limit in Section 708.01(C)(6) puts the vending operation outside the permitted temporary use, and because the Board of Zoning Appeals has no variance authority here, City Council is the only body that can authorize an exception; absent that, the city can enforce the zoning limit directly against the vendor and the property owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a food truck park on residential property in Marietta?
Can a food truck operate in a Marietta street or public right-of-way?
Who decides if a food truck can get an exception to Marietta's vending limits?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Marietta
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Vending Zones in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Cobb County handle vending zones.