Cedar Hill reviews one-year run of food truck pilot program as state bill nears

Cedar Hill — Assistant City Manager Chastity Benson updated the City Council on June 10 about the city’s food truck pilot program, reporting six mobile vendors registered under the ordinance and robust attendance for the city’s Food Truck Thursdays events.

Benson said the pilot was adopted after workshops with operators and city staff and became effective June 1, 2024. “We decided to establish the ordinance as a pilot program as an opportunity for us to be able to fully encapsulate all of the regulations related to mobile food vending within one ordinance,” Benson said, describing the registration form, required Dallas County health permit, Cedar Hill fire inspection and property-owner authorization for private-property operations.

The city has recorded six registered vendors: two in downtown, one on U.S. Highway 67, and two on South Clark Street. Benson said some operators reported difficulty obtaining property-owner authorization at retail centers that already host brick-and-mortar restaurants. “Those are private entities, so we can’t tell them that you have to allow the food truck to locate,” Benson said.

Benson highlighted Food Truck Thursdays, a Parks and Recreation special-event partnership with a food-truck broker, which began in March and has drawn about 3,000 attendees overall, averaging roughly 255 people per event. “It’s been a wildly successful program,” Benson said.

Council members asked how enforcement and health-safety reporting would work. Councilman Malone asked whether Cedar Hill fire inspections could trigger a health recheck by Dallas County if inspectors saw obvious health violations. Benson said she would follow up with the fire marshal to clarify notification procedures. Council Member Hayden asked whether the city’s restaurant inspector would cover food trucks; Benson noted the law enabling Dallas County permits means the city cannot require a separate Cedar Hill health inspection when a vendor holds a Dallas County permit.

Benson told the council she is monitoring House Bill 2844, legislation that addresses regulation of mobile food vendors and that was awaiting the governor’s signature. “If the governor does sign this into law, we will have to revisit our ordinance to ensure that there aren’t any elements of the ordinance that are in conflict with this chapter,” Benson said. She cited two specific items in the bill that could require changes locally: removal of local authority to set hours of operation and a requirement that local fire inspections be annual.

Councilwoman Azeem asked whether the pilot would be made permanent after the unified development code rewrite. Benson said the ordinance currently has no sunset date and that “if we were to make it permanent, the thing we would change would be to remove the title pilot program.” She recommended waiting to see the final state legislation and to consider any land-use changes (for example, food-truck parks) during the city’s upcoming zoning-code rewrite.

Benson said the city would continue to track registrations, enforcement questions (including aligning registration timing with Dallas County permits), and state action and would bring any necessary ordinance amendments back to council.

Ending: Staff will return with any code or ordinance amendments required by state law or identified during the program review.