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Tigard food pod developers ask council to remove emergency clause, citing costs and grandfathering
Summary
Two Tigard business owners urged the council during public comment to rescind an emergency rule change to food-cart regulations, saying recent changes make their planned food pod financially infeasible and that they should be grandfathered under prior rules.
George Miller, a property owner in Tigard, and Jenny Lopez, a longtime Tigard resident and small-business owner, told the City Council during public comment that an emergency change to local food-cart rules threatens a planned indoor food-pod and tap-house at Hudson Plaza.
Miller said he and Lopez bought Hudson Plaza in late 2021 and have spent months preparing a food-pod site at the corner of Walnut and Pacific Highway. He said the city’s planning staff interpreted recent rule changes differently than the owners expected and that compliance under the new rules would be “financially so burdensome” that the project might not be viable. “We already spent $50,000 on this food pipe,” Miller said, asking the council to “pull back the emergency clause” to give applicants time to respond.
Lopez described her family’s investment in local businesses and the job opportunities the pod would create for other food-cart operators. “In January, these new regulations were introduced without warning, placing unexpected barriers in our path and putting everything we’ve worked for at risk,” she said. Lopez said two of their carts currently qualify under the city’s documentation timelines; the others do not. She also highlighted a city charge she said is $13,000 “for the annual water and sewage hookup fee per food cart,” calling it a barrier for entrepreneurs.
Lopez told council members that Clearwater Services had inspected their trucks and that each truck had a grease trap; she said she and partners had complied with the company’s requirements. Both speakers asked the council to remove the ordinance’s emergency effective clause so the owners could proceed under a non-emergency adoption schedule and avoid possible loss of the investments already made.
Mayor Lueb and councilors directed the speakers to meet with staff after the meeting; Community Development Director Sambo was asked to speak with the owners, and staff indicated there was an opportunity to review the concerns. The council did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting.
The speakers urged the council to consider grandfathering projects that were far along in permitting under the prior rules and to revisit the emergency finding that accelerated the rule change.
The record shows public comment only; no ordinance or vote on the food-cart rules occurred during this session.
