AI-assisted research summary: Cities and towns may regulate mobile food vendors and units in certain ways, but they are barred from imposing several special restrictions; larger cities and towns must also post license applications online and cannot require in-person application.
9-485.01 - Mobile food vendors; mobile food units; operation 9-485.01. Mobile food vendors; mobile food units; operation A. In relation to a mobile food vendor or mobile food unit, a city or town by ordinance or resolution may: 1. Prohibit or restrict a mobile food vendor from operating at a public airport or public transit facility, in an area zoned for residential use or within two hundred fifty feet of an area zoned for residential use. 2. Continue to enact and enforce regulations and zoning codes on mobile food units or mobile food vendors that are not otherwise prohibited by law. B. In relation to a mobile food vendor or mobile food unit, a city or town may not: 1. Require a mobile food vendor, property owner or lessee of a property to apply for and receive any special permit that is not required for other temporary or mobile vending businesses in the same zoning district. 2. Require a mobile food vendor or mobile food unit to operate a specific distance from the perimeter of an existing commercial establishment or restaurant, except as required by applicable building, fire, street and sidewalk codes. 3. Prohibit or restrict a mobile food vendor or mobile food unit from using any legal parking space, including metered parking, except to restrict the number of spaces, vehicle size and parking duration and the ability to occupy sites with insufficient parking capacity as prescribed by a local zoning ordinance of the city or town or as otherwise prohibited by federal law. 4. Require a mobile food unit to be inspected by a city or town fire department before operation if the mobile food vendor provides evidence that the mobile food unit passed a fire inspection by another city or town fire department in this state within the preceding twelve months. C. A city or town with a population of more than fifty thousand persons shall make available all applicable license applications in an electronic format that is available online and may not require a mobile food vendor to apply in person.