The City Council voted on Monday evening to remove the limit of 10 mobile food vendors in Ceres but the action does not sit well with established restaurant owners and at least two councilmen who cast no votes.

For decades the city didn’t allow taco trucks and other types of mobile food vendors to do business in Ceres. In 2018 the council gave vendors a trial run and since then the numbers of persons wanting to sell food from trucks and trailers have exceeded the limit, said Christopher Hoem, director of Community Development for the city of Ceres. The policy was intended to be revisited every 12 months but the matter lapsed in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

“We often people come to our front counter asking if they could have a food truck,” explained Hoem. “And we’ve told people … that we have this limit. So far we have, I’ve counted, 19 people that are on our waiting list. Staff started working on this ordinance to come up with solutions since there seems to be a great need and desire for people to have food trucks and not be able to.”

Two community meetings were held to receive input prior to the council meeting.

Existing regulations for mobile food vendors include that vendors must:

• Have access to restroom and washing facilities within 200 feet if they operate for four or more hours;

• Be at least 1,000 feet from the next mobile food vendor and no closer than 350 feet from a restaurant or parks;

• Have access to waste dumpsters as well as have garbage cans nearby;

• Refrain from setting up outdoor tables;

• Not operate after midnight and not before 7 a.m.;

• Refrain from setting up signs or pennants.

Hoem went over a list of proposed changes, such removing the cap of 10 to “put us in line with other cities such as Turlock, our neighboring city.”

He said staff is required to monitor each truck to make sure they are active or they will be passed up.

Hoem also suggested the city relax the regulations that mobile food vendors be spaced at least 1,000 feet from one another and at least 350 feet from a restaurant or park. To make his assertion, he said the city does not preclude fast-food places from being located in close proximity to one another.

He also suggested increasing the permit life from one to five years, citing the expense of vendor truck equipment and that giving five-year permits would “give some stability to those businesses.” He cited neighboring cities’ policy.

Hoem also recommended allowing limited tables and tents similar to Turlock’s policy which allows up to two tables per operator.

Music would remain not permitted unless at special events.

Another recommendation is that if a property owner no longer wants a truck doing business, such as in a parking lot, the city would revoke the vendor’s permit.

Hoem said another regulation would be that food trucks cannot locate in downtown Ceres during the Ceres Street Faire unless they are participants of the event.

Hoem analyzed the mobile food vendor policies of Turlock and Modesto, using geographic area and population. He determined that based on what’s allowed in Turlock relative to its size, Ceres could have 25 food trucks and based on Turlock population, Ceres could have 31 food trucks. Compared to Modesto in terms of area and population, Ceres could have 37 or 38 food vendors.

From community input, it was suggested that a special committee be formed to review suggested changes. City Manager Doug Dunford suggested Johnny Chavez, Nelson Gomez and Renee Ledbetter as well as two councilmembers serve on that panel. But Dunford recommended tabling the entire matter until a committee could take a crack at reviewing the recommendations.

Mayor Javier Lopez, however, bypassed Dunford’s recommendation and slipped in removing the limit with a motion to form a panel. He also recommended that Councilman Daniel Martinez and Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra sit on the committee and immediately got a second from Martinez. Councilman James Casey and Vice Mayor Bret Silveira voted no.

The vote resulted in confusion for City Attorney Nubia Goldstein who apparently did not hear Lopez’s motion in its entirety and said any ordinance change must first under an introduction and first reading, followed a second reading and adoption. Thus the council voted to undo the premature motion by Lopez and 3-2 vote allowing him to repackage the motion.

Vice Mayor Bret Silveira halted the vote momentarily to express his dissatisfaction that city staff didn’t give him “a straight answer” as to how the matter was placed on the agenda. “I just don’t believe we should do business that way,” he added.

The vice mayor also noted: “I’ve spoken to dozens and dozens of residents and this is not just my opinion … not one person have I spoken to supports the idea of more food trucks in Ceres unless it’s in a Grub Hub style environment,” said Silveira. He added that tables and canopies “could be an eyesore and nuisance.”

He said nobody wants to see the main thoroughfares of Hatch Road, Whitmore Avenue and Mitchell Road lined with food trucks.

“We basically have every type of food in Ceres,” said Silveira, “and allowing the limit of the food vendors to be lifted is not really fair to those businesses already. We’re not big enough for 30 or 40 or 50 food trucks in Ceres.”

Casey said folks approached him expressing their same objections.

After their remarks, Mayor Lopez, Vierra and Martinez all voted to proceed with ordinance changes and form a committee while Silveira and Casey voted no.

After the meeting, Ledbetter told the Courier that she will serve on the committee but does not support an expansion of mobile food vendors in Ceres. She cited how Ceres restaurants are struggling without increased competition from those selling food from trucks.

The council did hear from supporters of changes like Martha Villasenor.

After saying she travels all over Ceres, Debbie Martinez said she doesn’t have time to go through a fast food drive thru lane and will run to taco trucks in Keyes.

“Keyes has maybe five within that one strip,” said Martinez. “I would love to see that in Ceres.”

She added that “restaurants are getting pretty pricy as well.”

Gene Yeakley noted the nice atmosphere at the Modesto Grub Hub and noted the city staff report didn’t even mention considering a similar centralized venue.

“If we have something nice and attractive in the city I think that’s a plus and that could accommodate a lot of different trucks they’re wanting to add instead of spreading them out all over town,” said Yeakley.

John Warren said he believes vendors will thin out if they proliferate and argued distance from schools and parks needs to be retained.

Lee Brandt expressed concern about established restaurants losing business with an increase in food trucks but would be okay with more if there were a limit on the types of foods offered.

“Right now if we put 30 trucks out there, I would be willing to bet that 28 of them will all sell tacos and burritos,” said Brandt. “Ceres is already overrun with Mexican restaurants.”