Supervisors approve ordinance limiting mobile food vendors near schools with narrow, permit carve-out for construction sites

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on March 13 passed on first reading an ordinance amending the Police Code to prohibit mobile catering vehicles from selling within 1,500 feet of a public middle school, junior high school or high school.

The ordinance includes an amendment offered by Supervisor Ellsberg that creates a narrowly drawn exception for catering trucks located on private construction sites and permits the chief of police to approve those trucks through the standard permit process. Ellsberg said the change responds to a police department concern about construction-site trucks that otherwise would fall within the 1,500-foot radius. “There are some catering trucks that are often used at private construction sites… the amendment… allows for those particular catering trucks to be within that 1,500 foot radius if they are on the private property of the construction site, and the chief of police has approved the permit,” Ellsberg said.

Ellsberg also described the measure as time-limited and said the ban would apply during daytime hours; at the meeting she characterized the restricted hours as between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Supervisor Daly indicated support but said the measure could block nearly half the city for some vendors and asked for follow-up mapping of impacts in his district. The ordinance passed on first reading as amended; the board took the action under the “same house, same call” procedure used frequently during the meeting.

Supporters and drafters told supervisors they had checked with groups that had submitted letters backing the amendment and were told the change did not alter the ordinance’s purpose. The ordinance will return for a second reading and final adoption at a subsequent meeting.

The measure was introduced as an amendment to the Police Code; the exact section added was not specified in the hearing record. The amendment’s temporary-construction-site carve-out and the daytime-only restriction were emphasized repeatedly during discussion; supervisors asked staff to monitor implementation and potential impacts on food vendors and workforce development programs.

Implementation details, including final operating hours, any permit fees and the date the ordinance would take effect, were not specified at the March 13 hearing and will be addressed on return for final adoption.