As food truck vendors flow into Chehalis, the Chehalis City Council and city staff are “behind the eight ball” on regulating food trucks, according to City Manager Stacy Denham.
The city’s community development department is receiving an increase in applications for food trucks in town, but the Chehalis Municipal Code is “silent” on the regulation, placement, duration and general allowance of the vendors.
Celest Wilder, community development director for Chehalis, said the department is often “at a loss” for what to tell food truck vendors when they apply.
The city enforces regulations by the Department of Labor and Industries and the Lewis County Department of Health, as well as requiring a state business license and a permit, but the staff is exploring enacting an ordinance to fill in the gaps.
Denham said the city “kind of put the cart before the horse” as its Parks and Recreation Department is accepting applications for vendors to serve at Stan Hedwall Park for the spring sports season.
“We’re seeing this on a growing scale very quickly with food trucks. We have no way to regulate it, even in the park system,” he said. “Where do you put them? Where are they going to park around the city? We want to try to get ahead of this. We’re already behind the eight ball on it, but we want to make sure we get ahead of it as best we can and as quickly as we can.”
Wilder presented several examples of city ordinances regulating food trucks, including from Marysville, Newcastle, Ocean Shores and Richland.
Mayor Tony Ketchum said he would rather see an ordinance that works best for Chehalis and that “we don’t want to be like everybody else.”
Wilder said there are two established food trucks, one of which is on private property and another that has its own dedicated water line and sewer line and rents the spot from the property owner.
Denham directed Wilder to reach out to food truck vendors and ask them what their capabilities are to inform the city’s path forward.
The city manager added that the staff will look into the food truck on private property and see what regulations can be enforced.
“When we’re talking about the ones on private property, like down here on National, there may be things going on with that one. I’m not saying there is, but there might be something going on that is actually illegal or not normal what should be happening,” Denham said. “For example, if they don’t have proper sanitation, dump sites, things like that, we need to be able to make sure we can regulate that. There is some benefit given to private property, but we want to make sure we dive into that as well as part of this process.”
Wilder said she would submit a draft of an ordinance in two weeks and bring it back to the council with the goal of having it completed closer to the summer.
