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Lewisville staff outline limits and local options after state mobile-vendor law
Summary
Planning staff told the City Council that a new Texas law shifts permitting and inspection of mobile food vendors to the state, limiting local inspection and permitting while giving Lewisville options—like tying a special use permit (SUP) to property owners—to retain some local control.
Michelle Fernandez, Lewisville planning manager, and Pedro Martinez, the city's sanitary supervisor, briefed the council on how recent state legislation will change local authority over mobile food vendors. "Last year, Texas HB 2844" was cited by Martinez as creating statewide consistency and restricting local permitting and inspection, he said. Fernandez and staff identified several sections of Lewisville's code that may conflict with the new law and will need revision.
Staff emphasized that the state now issues permits and conducts food-safety inspections for mobile vendors; local code enforcement can verify whether a state permit is posted but must report suspected food-safety violations to the state rather than inspect vehicles directly. Pedro Martinez said the law "limits the ability of cities and counties to issue permits, to conduct inspection, to investigate complaints" and that staff is reviewing city ordinance sections that "have some language that will have to be amended."
To preserve local control over how mobile vendors use private property, staff proposed several possible tools. One is a property-based special use permit (SUP) that would be required if a vendor occupies the same parcel repeatedly. Staff described a few trigger thresholds discussed internally—three days, five days or a higher number within a calendar month—and sought council input on what would be reasonable. "If they are on a piece of property for 3 days within a calendar month, then that could potentially trigger an SUP because now they're no longer mobile," Fernandez said.
Councilmembers expressed concern about enforcement and about "bad actors" who could rotate vendors to avoid oversight. Several members favored tying an SUP to the property owner rather than the vendor because the owner is a stable party who can be held accountable if nuisance or safety issues arise. Staff also proposed exceptions for active construction sites, special events operated under a permit, and brief right-of-way stops (for example pushcarts or ice-cream trucks that are not stationary for more than 15 minutes).
Staff said the next steps are to draft ordinance language clarifying definitions, SUP thresholds and enforcement approaches and to send that draft to the city attorney and legal review. They also asked council whether to request legislative clarifications at the state level. The council asked staff to return with proposed language after additional peer-city outreach and legal review.
