Food truck operators and the local foodie community that loves them were given a reason to hope for a loosening of restrictions that have kept those businesses isolated mostly in the northern area of the city. At a town hall meeting on May 22, Hollister Development Services Director Christine Hopper outlined new ordinances that would allow food trucks to operate almost anywhere in the city, subject to a new three-tier permit system.

“The whole change in tone really came from the public wanting this service and knowing that it was not currently legal in the city,” she said. “The operators had the courage to come and address the City Council and show the need to provide this service, and the City Council grabbed on to that and directed staff to put together a more permissive ordinance.”

It’s been 19 months since Joseph Elmhorst’s Steak Stop Food Truck became the first mobile food business to be given a license to operate in a fixed location within the city limits in the vicinity of the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office on Apollo Way. 

Outside of special events, like the farmer’s market, licensed food trucks are currently allowed to operate only in similarly remote areas of Hollister, mostly in the north of the city in the industrial parks and near the airport.

The new ordinance would allow food trucks to operate almost anywhere in the city, with different regulations depending on the location and type of permit, which would have a one-year term. 

Short-term permits would allow trucks to operate for up to one hour in one location, then move to another location at least a block away. Four hours would have to pass before the truck could return to the original location. Truck operations would be allowed in all districts.

Long-term permits would allow trucks to stay up to four hours at a single location in the Northern Gateway, industrial, and manufacturing zones. 

Developed private property permits would allow trucks to park at legally developed sites with established use permits in commercial, industrial, manufacturing and mixed-use districts.

There are other restrictions as well. Trucks would not be allowed on streets with diagonal parking spaces, such as those found in most of the downtown areas around San Benito Street. Trucks can operate in residential areas, but only between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and no closer than 50 feet from a residence. No trucks would be allowed to operate on South Street or on 4th Street between Westside Blvd. and Monterey Street.

Several restaurant owners present at the meeting, such as Peter Lago of Johnny’s Bar and Grill, expressed concern over allowing the trucks to operate in close enough proximity to draw business away from their establishments.

“As brick and mortars, it is hard to compete with somebody that doesn’t have the same overhead scenarios that we do,” he said, “Is it in the city’s plan to be able to facilitate giving these guys a spot where we can have something that is advantageous to them but not have them necessarily parked like a restaurant right in front of my restaurant?”

Hopper replied some jurisdictions have regulations saying trucks can’t park near a brick-and-mortar establishment that sells the same type of food and that the city attorney would be offering an opinion on the legality of that kind of restriction before it came up for a vote by the City Council.

Alejandro Ceja, the owner of El Guapo Kitchen, said he understood the downtown brick-and-mortar restaurants having an issue with what they perceived as competition but that having food trucks downtown “adds on more to the area and just brings more exposure to the businesses.”

Designating such an area where multiple food trucks could set up a semi-permanent site to operate multiple times a week won’t be part of the finished ordinance, but Hopper is not ruling it out in the future.

“Something like that is a much bigger fish to fry,” she said. “Once you have a more permanent location for something and it’s not already developed, there are a lot more regulations regarding engineering, building permits, and things like that. We will address it at a future date because we want to make sure that at least part of this process gets moving now.”

The new ordinance will be formally introduced to the City Council on June 5, at which time the public will be allowed to offer comments. A second reading of the ordinance on June 20 will end with a vote by the council. If the ordinance succeeds, it will take effect on July 20.

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