Warwick, RI Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- School buffer
- 200 feet during school hours
- Restricted hours
- 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., school days
- Parking requirement
- Right wheels to curb
- Dwell time
- Only as long as needed to serve a customer
- Adopted
- Ord. No. O-17-32, Dec. 5, 2017
Summary
Warwick bars ice cream trucks and other mobile food vendors from stopping to sell within 200 feet of a school building between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on days school is in session. Any spot that is allowed still requires curbside parking, and vendors may stop only as long as it takes to serve a customer.
(a) No peddler or hawker selling or distributing any ice cream, lemonade or any other food items shall park or stop his/her vehicle for the purpose of making a sale of such items in an area which is closer than 200 feet to a school building between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on days on which school is in session, as measured from the closest point of the building is located to the location on which the vehicle is parked. (b) All peddlers and hawkers parking in any allowed area within the city must comply with all of the city's traffic regulations, including, but not limited to, stopping with the right wheels to the curb, and they shall only be allowed to park for that amount of time which it takes to serve a customer.
Full Breakdown
Sec. 46-3, added by Ord. No. O-17-32 in 2017, targets peddlers and hawkers selling ice cream, lemonade or other food items from a vehicle. on days when school is in session, with the distance measured from the closest point of the school building to where the vehicle is parked. , or on non-school days. Subsection (b) applies citywide traffic rules to any allowed stop: vendors must park with their right wheels to the curb, matching standard curbside parking law, and may remain stopped only for the time it takes to serve a customer, not to wait for the next one.
Sec. 46-4 imposes the identical curb-and-dwell-time rule on hot dog and hamburger vendors. Both sections operate on top of the base licensing requirement in Sec. 46-2, so a vendor already needs a board of public safety license before the location rules in Sec. 46-3 even come into play.
Violations & Fines
Selling within the 200-foot school buffer during the 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. window on a school day, parking with wheels away from the curb, or lingering after a sale is made are each violations of Chapter 46, punishable under the Code's general penalty section, 1-4, per Sec. 46-11, which also authorizes confiscating the food items and the vehicle used to sell them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an ice cream truck park across from a Warwick school?
How long can a food truck stay parked at one spot in Warwick?
Does the 200-foot school rule apply on weekends?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Warwick
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