San Jacinto, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 5.52.030(D) of the San Jacinto Municipal Code is the city's location rule for mobile food units. No food, beverage, merchandise or services can be sold, distributed or offered from a mobile food unit within five hundred (500) feet of any public school property. The distance is measured in a straight line to the nearest point of the school property, and the ban runs between seven a.m. and four p.m. on regular school days. Section 5.52.020(D) defines "public school" as any public elementary school, middle school, junior high or high school as defined in the California Education Code, so the buffer is tied to public schools and the text does not name private schools.

There is one exception, and it has three parts that all have to be met. The sale has to be in a commercial zone, on private property with the express written consent of the owner or lessee, and in conformity with the health, safety and zoning regulations and permits that apply to the site where the sale happens. A cart on a public sidewalk near a school during school hours therefore has no exception to rely on, while a unit set up in a commercial zone parking lot with the owner's written consent can operate inside the buffer if the site's zoning and permits allow it.

Subsection (E) adds a surface and obstruction rule. It prohibits sales from a mobile food unit that is not on an improved surface and is not creating an obstruction to vehicles, pedestrians or parking. The sentence is worded as a double negative in the code, but the policy it serves is plain from the council's finding in Section 5.52.010 that sales on public streets, sidewalks and rights-of-way endanger pedestrians exposed to other vehicular traffic.

The zone rules sit on top of the permit rules in subsections (A) through (C): a city manager permit for street, highway, public property or sidewalk sales, the public entity's authorization on public property, and written owner consent on private property. Section 5.52.040 says a business license is no defense unless it authorized the activity at a designated location, under specified times or conditions. The chapter applies to non-self-propelled or nonmotorized units as defined in Section 5.52.020(C).