TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Mayor Mahan
Vice Mayor Foley
Councilmember Campos
Councilmember Mulcahy
Councilmember Casey
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: October 16, 2025
Approved Date: 10/16/2025
SUBJECT: PP25-004 - Amendments to Various Sections of Title 20 of the San José Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Code) Related to Temporary Uses of Outdoor Private Property
RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve the staff recommendations.
2. Direct the City Manager to return to the City Council during a future routine Zoning Code update with amendments to Part 10 of Chapter 20.80 that reduce barriers to establishing outdoor vending facilities on private properties.
BACKGROUND
We are grateful to City staff for quickly preparing these amendments to the Zoning Code that allow private property owners to activate spaces, build community, and contribute to the local economy. In anticipation of the 2026 sports events, these changes will facilitate temporary uses, including outdoor vending and food trucks, that promote a vibrant, exciting atmosphere and draw crowds. We encourage our colleagues to support the staff recommendations.
At the same time, the City’s regulatory environment continues to impose hurdles for outdoor vendors. Part 10 of Chapter 20.80 of the Municipal Code establishes strict rules on vendor locations, limiting when, how, and where a vendor can sell. Depending on the type of vending, the City restricts operations near schools, in commercial and residential zones, and on vacant or private lots. It also caps the number of vending facilities per site. This approach leads to missed opportunities to activate unproductive parcels across the city.
For many, especially within immigrant communities, outdoor and mobile food vending has emerged as a popular and more accessible alternative to the high costs associated with opening a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront. Starting a mobile food business requires a significantly lower initial investment. While this model offers greater flexibility and a quicker path to market, it does come with its own unique set of expenses and regulatory hurdles specific to mobile COUNCIL AGENDA: 10/21/2025
FILE: 25-1109
ITEM: 10.1(a)
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
October 16, 2025
Subject: PP25-004 - Amendments to Various Sections of Title 20 of the San José Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Code) Related to Temporary Uses of Outdoor Private Property
operations. The complex regulatory network of state, county, and municipal laws places an enormous burden on these emerging entrepreneurs, making it difficult for them to stay compliant and operate legally. Modernizing our regulations will create more opportunities for an industry that serves as a pipeline to the American dream for many immigrant communities.
We recommend that the City Administration review Part 10 of Chapter 20.80 and return to the City Council with proposed amendments that appropriately reduce these barriers to establishing outdoor vending facilities, including food trucks, on private properties. At a minimum, we encourage the review of the location and operational requirements in Section 20.80.820, the prohibition against vending on vacant parcels or lots (Section 20.80.840), and the minimum standards in Section 20.80.850.
By creating a more supportive regulatory framework, the City of San José can promote economic development and support its vibrant, diverse local food industry. This will lead to more business license applications and more outdoor vendors operating in more spaces, all while staying compliant and serving their communities. With San José's sprawling 180 square miles, there's ample opportunity for property owners to collaborate with startup businesses.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.