Cathedral City to Study Food Truck Pilot Program

Cathedral City City Council Will Study Implementing Temporary Food Truck Pilot Program on Private Property

CATHEDRAL CITY — Food trucks on private property could soon be coming to this community if the City Council acts on the recommendation from Andrew Firestine, director of Community and Economic Development.

Firestine recommends the City Council direct staff to introduce an ordinance implementing a temporary food truck pilot program on private property.

The City Council will consider the issue when it meets in Study Session on Wednesday.

Adopted in 2014, Chapter 5.82 “Regulations for the Operation of Food Trucks” focuses on the operation of food trucks within the public right-of-way. The chapter sets specific location requirements, permit requirements, and trash control requirements. Chapter 5.82 does not address the operation of food trucks on private property.

In the past three years, Cathedral City Code Compliance received five complaints regarding a food truck vendor. Upon review of these five complaints, Code Compliance determined that four of them were unfounded reports of legally operating food trucks. This low volume of requests across a period of three years suggests food truck activity in the city is low and has remained low despite the ability to obtain a permit to operate within the public right-of-way.

Other cities within the Coachella Valley, including Indio, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, and La Quinta have all adopted changes to their codes to allow food trucks to operate on private property under certain conditions, according to Firestein.

The community benefits of such a program are numerous, according to Firestine, including:

• Safety: Allowing food trucks to operate in a fixed location allows the business to consistently remove itself from the public right-of-way increasing traffic safety and giving customers a safer environment to purchase their food.
• Growing Business: Adopting changes that allow for food trucks to operate more easily within Cathedral City may result in growth within this field of business and bring more commercial activity to Cathedral City.
• Inter-business Cooperation: Allowing food trucks to operate on private property with permission opens dialogue between mobile and static businesses in Cathedral City, potentially leading to new opportunities for both.
• Hygiene Requirements: Allowing food trucks to operate in a fixed location allows them to more easily and more safely address trash removal requirements and potentially allows access to regular bathrooms for both customers and operators.

Moreover, the food truck pilot program is expected to generate a modest positive fiscal impact to the city for the issuance of vendor permits and businesses licenses, according to Firestein. The revenues generated by the program off-set costs to the city to administer the permits and licenses.