Article III — Operating Regulations and Permit Conditions for Ice Cream Trucks

• (a) "Ice cream truck"

  • means any motor vehicle requiring a license from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which is used to peddle, sell, or vend at retail prepackaged frozen dairy or waterbased food products; or soft-serve or hand-dipped frozen dairy or water-based products; or prepackaged snack foods, bottled water and nonalcoholic beverages.

(b) "Ice cream truck business"

• means the business of peddling, selling or vending at retail, from a truck that travels from place to place on the streets within the city, prepackaged frozen dairy or water-based food products; or soft-serve or hand-dipped frozen dairy or water-based products; or prepackaged snack foods, bottled water and nonalcoholic beverages.

(Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

• (a) It is unlawful for a person to maintain, manage, operate, conduct, control or own an ice cream truck business operating within the City unless the business is maintained and operated in strict compliance with a valid business permit.

• (b) It is unlawful for a person, other than the business operator, to drive or ride on an ice cream truck that is in operation without having first obtained an ice cream business employee permit from the Chief of Police. A business permittee is deemed to have an employee permit for the purposes of driving or riding in the permittee's ice cream trucks.

• (Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

Each ice cream truck business permit issued by the Chief of Police shall be subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this chapter, as well as any other conditions specifically set forth in the permit. (Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

It is unlawful for any person to violate the operating regulations set forth in this section in addition to the regulations set forth elsewhere in this chapter.

• (a) Only prepackaged food items, soft-serve or hand-dipped frozen dairy products, bottled water, or nonalcoholic beverages may be offered for sale or sold.

• (b) Sales from an ice cream truck shall be limited to the hours of 10:00 A.M. to one half-hour after sunset.

• (c) Sales from ice cream trucks shall be limited to streets that have thirty (30) mile per hour speed limits or less.

• (d) An ice cream truck shall not park for a period exceeding ten minutes at any one place.

• (e) No sales shall be made while an ice cream truck is parked within seventy-five (75) feet of any intersection with any public street or streets, as measured along the traveled way.

• (f) No person shall stop to vend from an ice cream truck within two hundred (200) feet of another ice cream truck that has already stopped to vend.

• (g) The standard warning flashers shall be in operation immediately upon the truck stopping to vend and cease operation as the truck begins to move after vending.

• (Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

• (a) No person shall use, play or employ any sound, outcry, amplifier, loudspeaker, or any other instrument or device for the production of sound from an ice cream truck when the ice cream truck is stationary, after 7:00 P.M. or one half-hour after sunset, whichever occurs first, or in such a manner as to create a disturbance of the peace.

• (b) The Chief of Police may set reasonable restrictions on the type and use of any amplifier, loudspeaker, or any other instrument or device for the production of sound employed on an ice cream truck in order to prevent a disturbance of the peace.

• (Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

No one other than one driver and one additional person shall be allowed to ride in or on an ice cream truck that is in operation. The driver and the additional person may be the business operator or an employee of the business operator. In no event shall more than two persons ride in or on the truck while the truck is in operation.

(Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)

• (a) It is unlawful for a business operator to operate an ice cream truck that does not have a current, valid Health Department certificate, a current Department of Motor Vehicles registration sticker and current vehicle insurance. All ice cream trucks operated by the business operator shall be inspected and certified by the Santa Clara County Health Department annually. (Per Health and Safety Code Section 113700 .)

• (b) The business operator shall present each ice cream truck for inspection and certification by the Chief of Police or designee annually. For trucks which pass inspection, the Chief of Police or designee shall affix a suitable inspection sticker on each certified truck, identifying the truck as having successfully passed vehicle inspection.

• (c) The business operator shall maintain each ice cream truck being operated in such condition that:

  • (1) All doors, windows, the hood and the trunk shall open and close securely;

  • (2) The inside of the ice cream truck shall be clean and free of litter and trash;

  • (3) There is a trash receptacle that shall be made accessible to the public when sales occur in which patrons can place package wrappers and trash;

  • (4) The exterior of the ice cream truck shall be clean and in good repair, and not have any peeling, dents, rust, scratches or missing components, which are discernible at a distance of five feet or more from the truck;

  • (5) Advertising decals and price lists shall be placed only on the vending side of ice cream trucks.

• (d) The business operator shall have and maintain in clean operating condition on each ice cream truck the following safety equipment:

  • (1) Signs painted or mounted on the front and rear of each truck using black four-inch-tall letters on a yellow background with a black one-inch border around each sign. The sign on the front and rear of each vehicle shall read "CHILDREN CROSSING" and be eight inches high by forty-eight (48) inches wide. An additional sign or signs shall be painted or mounted on the rear of each truck above the first sign and shall read "Warning," using the same size letter and paint requirements.

  • (2) Standard warning flashers.

(3) Any other safety equipment required by the California Vehicle Code . (Ord. 1811 § 1, 10-10-2006)