Trial period approved for food trucks downtown

Trial period approved for food trucks downtown News Staff Tue, 05/14/2024 - 9:59 am Trial to run from June to September

• (THE GRAHAM LEADER | ARCHIVE PHOTO) After over a year of discussion to establish a centralized location for food trucks which was narrowed down to the downtown square, a trial policy for rental of spaces downtown was approved last week by the Graham City Council.

Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com

After over a year of discussion to establish a centralized location for food trucks which was narrowed down to the downtown square, a trial policy for rental of spaces downtown was approved last week by the Graham City Council.

The city council approved a trial policy for food trucks operating on the interior of the square during their meeting Thursday, May 9. The trial policy will run from Monday, June 3 through Tuesday, Sept. 3, unless rescinded or extended by the council.

Three spaces will be available for rent on the southwest corner of the square, with the city reserving the right to change the location and number of rented spaces. Food truck vendors can operate any day of the week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., but must be removed from the square within two hours of the expiration of their permit.

The food truck rental program will be conducted by the city code enforcement department. At the time of completing the application for a permit, food truck vendors can request up to five consecutive days to stay at the location, unless that conflicts with a previously scheduled event.

“In those instances where an approved event on the square conflicts with the scheduled availability for the food truck spaces, the scheduled event shall have priority, and the city will not make food truck rental space available during the event,” the policy states.

Spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. If there are more than three vendors who apply for a space on a given day, the city states in the policy that it reserves the right to allocate spaces based on a lottery system.

Food truck vendors must register with the code enforcement department to be eligible for a rental permit. To be eligible for a permit or participate in an event on the square, food truck vendors must have a valid health inspection certificate issued by the city, a valid sales tax certificate issued by the Texas Comptroller and proof of liability insurance of $1 million per occurrence and an aggregate limit of $2 million.

All food truck vendors will be responsible for the utilities associated with operation of the food truck such as electrical service, water service, wastewater disposal and solid waste removal.

A permit fee of $75 per day will be collected by the city. The permit can be revoked in any instance of vendor misconduct, not maintaining cleanliness of the space and not complying with the trial policy.

The council tabled and denied a request by a local food truck vendor Thursday, Feb. 15 in order to host a public hearing on the topic of trucks downtown.

“The (draft) policy was developed because several food truck vendors sought council approval to periodically locate their food truck on the square,” City Manager Eric Garretty said during the public hearing at the beginning of April. “Council determined that a policy was needed to regulate food trucks to preserve the integrity of the square and ensure public health and safety.”

The council discussed the concerns from the Monday, April 8 public hearing during their meeting Thursday, April 25 and their additions were added from that meeting into the draft document.

In a previous meeting regarding food trucks on the square, city staff said cell phone information can be tracked during the trial period to determine downtown traffic. Garretty also said the code enforcement officer could inform the council of interest by reporting how often he turned away food trucks over the established limit.

Code Enforcement Officer BJ Cook said that he does not anticipate many of the area food trucks utilizing the downtown location due to previous obligations.

“Ninety percent of ours have paid $3,000-4,000 to be where they’re at to get electric and so forth. So they’re pretty stationary, they don’t want to move. So we’re going to have just a small number, I think, that would want to come out,” Cook said in April. “We’ve got a couple of new ones up here at the Gateway (Inn) that probably would try it. But again, they’re paying $200 a month at the Gateway parking lot.”

Council member Jack Little in April reminded the public that the policy in its current form is temporary and could be changed after review by the city and council.

“I just think at this point that we make it very clear that this is a trial period,” he said. “All this is subject to change depending on what we find out.”

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