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Council workshop reviews options after state law limits local food-truck rules
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Summary
At an April 21 workshop the Burroughs City Council discussed how HB 2844, effective July 1, will transfer permitting to the state and considered two local ordinance options: retain zoning buffers and site approvals (option A) or remove special local zoning (option B). Council asked staff to preserve event exemptions and consider a compliance certificate approach.
Burroughs council members and staff spent much of their April 21 workshop weighing how to respond after the state enacted HB 2844, which council members said will shift licensing of mobile food operations to the state and narrow local authority.
A council member said the law "all but strips our ability to regulate food trucks," and emphasized that July 1 is the effective date for the change. City attorney Mark outlined two draft local ordinances: option A would keep the city’s prior zoning-based restrictions (limiting mobile units to certain commercial zones, retaining distance buffers from residences and restaurants and requiring site approvals), while option B would remove those special zoning limits and rely on general zoning. "The basic question, I think, for council is whether or not we want to continue to attempt to enforce the zoning restrictions that we put in place," Mark said.
The council discussed preserving narrow city exceptions for city-sponsored events and the Rose Pecan Festival, and noted that section 11.4545 in the current ordinance already exempts city festivals, chamber events and concession trucks on an owner’s property. Several members said they preferred option A because it keeps the landowner-site-approval mechanism and the buffers that protect residential neighborhoods, while others warned that state preemption could invite legal challenge to local restrictions.
On enforcement, Mark told the group the draft includes a misdemeanor penalty (described in the draft as up to a $500 fine), revocation of compliance certificates for violators and the ability to seek injunctive relief in court. He and staff also said some technical powers would remain with the city — for example, building and fire officials could inspect and, if they identify immediate hazards, require shutdowns — but health and sanitation inspections would move under the state umbrella, limiting day-to-day local control.
Council members asked whether the city could continue to charge a registration fee in place of the prior $500 permit; Mark said the state’s new licensing regime likely preempts municipal permitting and fee collection but suggested the council could adopt a limited compliance-certificate or registration to verify state licensing and local site conditions.
No formal vote was taken in the workshop. Council members directed staff to retain current ordinance language that explicitly exempts city-sponsored events and to return with recommended edits and the draft ordinance for the next regular meeting for formal consideration.
