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Board allows one-year temporary return of popular Filipino food truck at 701 Valencia under strict limits after appeal
Summary
After months of debate and a unanimous planning commission decision that included a 'no food' condition, the Board of Supervisors on May 15 conditionally approved a new temporary authorization allowing one mobile food facility at 701 Valencia Street for one year under strict limits following community input.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on May 15 to override a planning commission condition that had effectively barred restaurant use at a privately owned parking lot at 701 Valencia Street and to approve a new temporary authorization allowing one mobile food facility on the site for one year under strict conditions.
The lot’s property owner and project sponsor, Ryan Motzek, and Senior Csig co-owners had operated a Filipino food truck on the corner lot under a temporary use authorization (TUA) since 2016. Planning staff had recommended approval of a conditional-use authorization to legalize a temporary conversion of the accessory parking lot to a commercial parking lot, but the planning commission added a condition prohibiting restaurant and limited-restaurant uses. That condition led to the food truck’s removal.
Supporters — including neighborhood residents, small-business advocates and Filipino community groups — urged the board to reinstate a single food-truck operation that advocates said complements the Valencia corridor’s cultural mix and supports small entrepreneurs. Dozens of speakers told the board they had no complaints during the truck’s months on the lot and argued the truck supported local foot traffic and neighborhood vitality.
Opponents — including adjacent brick-and-mortar restaurant owners and nearby residents — said the parcel is in a corridor already saturated with eateries, raised concerns about late hours, noise, restroom access and the potential for unfair competition with established restaurants. Several restaurant owners said their businesses had experienced revenue losses when trucks operated directly outside their doors.
Supervisor Ronan, seeking a compromise, moved to table the approval of the Planning Department’s conditional-use authorization and to replace it with a narrowly tailored temporary authorization allowing one mobile food facility for one year with this set of required conditions: operating hours limited to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; no onsite alcohol sales; no generators; provision of toilets with running water or camouflaged porta-potties for customers; no congregate seating on the lot; and no amplified music. The sponsor retained the option to use other temporary uses (crafts, events) on the rest of the lot with separate TUAs.
The motion to amend and approve the plan as a temporary use passed unanimously. Supervisors said the outcome protected nearby restaurants and residents while preserving a pathway for a neighborhood-serving small business to operate in an underused private lot. The clerk was directed to prepare findings supporting the board’s action.
