Cotati planning commission backs ordinance setting rules for food trucks, carts and parklets

The Cotati Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an ordinance adding citywide standards for food and mobile businesses, including sidewalk vendors, food trucks and carts, parklets, outdoor dining and certain home-occupation and urban-agriculture uses.

Autumn, a community development staff member presenting the draft, told the commission the proposal "is to foster economic development and community vitality while managing potential impacts from these uses." The draft covers a wide range of mobile-food activity and proposes rules intended to keep vending safe and temporary while complying with state law.

Key provisions in the draft and the commission's recommended changes include: sidewalk vendors operating only on public sidewalks with a city business license (food vendors must also have a county health permit), a 4-foot clear pedestrian path requirement, a 25-square-foot limit for vendor footprint, and operational-hour bands by zone (for example, residential hours were discussed separately from commercial hours). Staff also…