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Yuba City Council pauses vending ordinance update, directs staff to craft clearer rules for mobile vendors
Summary
After a heated public hearing, the council voted to continue its update of the mobile, open‑air and sidewalk vending ordinance and gave staff specific direction: a sales window of about six hours, a total on‑site limit of about nine hours (including setup/teardown), a temporary‑use permitting path for suitable unimproved lots, and outreach to local restaurants before final adoption.
The Yuba City Council on March 17 paused action on a proposed overhaul of the city’s mobile and open‑air vending code and directed staff to return with a revised draft after targeted outreach.
The move followed a lengthy presentation by Doug Libby of Development Services outlining changes to Zoning Code 26‑01 and a public hearing in which food‑truck operators and downtown businesses raised practical and public‑health concerns. Libby said the draft revises vendor definitions, requires permits to be displayed, clarifies renewals, and expands enforcement powers while noting that state law limits what cities can do about sidewalk vending: “sidewalk vending has largely been decriminalized in California,” he told the council, citing Senate Bill 946.
Why it matters: council members said they want rules that protect public health and brick‑and‑mortar businesses while giving legitimate mobile operators a workable path to operate. Several council members and staff emphasized that the primary enforcement target is unpermitted, often unsanitary vending that undercuts regulated businesses.
Local vendors pushed back on early drafts that would sharply limit where and how long a truck may operate. Anthony (Tony) Consilla, owner of Tony Bob’s, told the council the two‑hour private‑property relocation window originally proposed would be unworkable: “It takes me an hour and a half to open my doors, get all my foods up to temperature, my ovens, my deep fryers. It takes a good hour, hour and a half. That would give me approximately a half hour to sell as many hot dogs as I could possibly sell. That’s not possible,” he said, asking the council to craft a realistic on‑site window for legitimate operators who comply with permits and county food‑safety rules.
Council response and direction: after public comment and internal discussion, councilmembers coalesced around a direction for staff rather than immediate adoption. The council’s near‑consensus instructions to staff included: define and allow a sales window of roughly six hours per location, permit total on‑site time of about nine hours to accommodate setup and teardown, include a temporary‑use permitting pathway to evaluate and allow operations on appropriate unimproved lots, and maintain a 600‑foot movement requirement for vendors who are otherwise moving through public spaces. The council also asked staff to reach out to the local restaurant community and the restaurant association for input on spacing and impacts.
Next steps: council voted to continue the ordinance for additional drafting and outreach. Staff will prepare an amended ordinance incorporating the council’s direction and present it at a future council meeting so the city can both curb unpermitted operations and preserve a viable path for compliant mobile businesses.
A note on enforcement: the draft ordinance discussed stronger enforcement tools for repeat unpermitted vendors — including seizure and 30‑day storage of perishable materials and associated equipment — while acknowledging that sidewalk vending rules are constrained by state law.
The council’s action was procedural: the ordinance was not adopted and remains under revision pending staff changes and additional stakeholder outreach.
