Sherman would drop its own permit and police background check for food truck operators and lean on state licensing instead, under a rewritten mobile food vendor ordinance that goes to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
The rewrite follows House Bill 2844, a state law that took effect July 1 and, according to a city staff report, sets updated rules for mobile food vendors and limits how cities can regulate and enforce requirements on food trucks.
What would go away
The current rules sit in the health and sanitation chapter of the city code. The draft strikes that whole section, including:
- the requirement to apply for a city permit through the city clerk's office;
- the criminal background check by the Sherman Police Department for anyone operating or working on a truck, and the bar on permits for registered sex offenders, people on probation or parole for crimes against persons, and people with a felony conviction in the past five years;
- the ban on selling in public parks and city-owned lots from midnight Sunday to 5 p.m. Friday, and the overnight curfew for trucks in parks;
- the rule that a truck cannot take a parking lot below its required number of spaces.
What would replace it
Food trucks would become their own land use in the zoning ordinance, allowed with conditions in every nonresidential zoning district and none of the residential ones. The conditions in the draft say a vendor must:
- be permitted and licensed through the state's Health and Human Services agency;
- stay mobile and not remain in one spot longer than 24 hours;
- stay off streets and private property in the Central Business District unless the city manager or a designee approves;
- stay off public sidewalks except at a special event the city manager approves;
- stay at least 300 feet from an operating restaurant unless every restaurant inside that distance gives written approval.
The definition of a food truck lot, three or more vendors gathering on private property, stays in the code. Violations would carry fines of up to $2,000 a day. City staff recommend approval.
