Council introduces revised mobile food-vendor ordinance after weeks of debate; short-term court rule modified

Tracy City Council introduced a revised citywide ordinance to regulate mobile food vendors after a day of public comment and debate about temporary food courts and the rights of brick-and-mortar restaurants.

The proposed ordinance would create a city-issued mobile food vendor license, set operational standards (vehicles must display licenses and health permits, a maximum of two vendors per site under the base license, requirements for trash/recycling/organics containers and limits on generators near residences), and define a new regulatory class for mobile food vendor courts and short-term mobile food vendor courts. The planning staff said individual mobile vendors would be permitted to operate up to 18 hours at a single location in a day under the license; mobile food vendor courts would require development-level improvements; short-term courts would be allowed with temporary utilities and use permits but had been limited in the draft to 180 days in a calendar year.

After extensive public comment from operators of an established local food-truck park (Street Eats), mall operators and patrons, the council modified the draft ordinance during the introduction step. The Planning Commission had recommended allowing outdoor cooking devices (smokers/grills) 50 feet from residences; staff noted that citywide enforcement already treats outdoor cooking at brick-and-mortar businesses as a code issue and recommended applying consistent citywide standards rather than creating a special exception for mobile vendors.

Key change adopted at introduction: Council removed the draft clause that would have required short-term vendor courts to vacate a site for six months a year. Instead the council directed staff to revise the short-term/court provisions so licensing would be renewable for six-month periods without mandatory vacancy; councilmembers said this would let a successful short-term food plaza continue operations while preserving the city's ability to require relocation if impacts or oversaturation arise.

Public comment and enforcement concerns: Food-truck plaza operators said a six-month vacancy rule would undercut the economic viability of facilities that have made substantial investments in customer amenities and community programming. Code enforcement staff told the council enforcement issues have been concentrated among unpermitted pop'up vendors rather than licensed mobile food trucks; staff said they had done proactive outreach and education and that repeated noncompliance would lead to citations and license revocation.

Vote and next steps: The council voted to introduce the ordinance with the amendment to remove the mandatory six-month vacancy; staff said fees and any cap on license counts were not finalized and would return for council direction. The ordnance introduction will be followed by later steps to set fees, finalize language on outdoor food preparation and set the development standards for permanent vendor courts.

Representative quote: "Our recommendation is that the city council adopt the ordinance," staff said during the presentation, while park operators warned the mandatory-vacancy approach would penalize investments made before the ordinance existed.