Logo courtesy of Butte County

OROVILLE, CA (MPG) – Mobile food courts can now operate in unincorporated Butte County under new zoning rules approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 11.

The ordinance allows food courts in commercial, industrial and mixed-use zones through an administrative permit. It applies to unincorporated areas, including communities such as Richvale, East Gridley and Durham, but not within the cities of Gridley, Biggs, Chico, Oroville or Paradise. Development Services Director Paula Daneluk said the county's zoning code previously was silent on the use. The proposal was developed following meetings with Public Health, Environmental Health and businesses in the food truck industry.

Assistant Planner Alyssa Mendoza said a mobile food court is defined as two or more mobile food vendors operating for more than one hour a day on private property. Each vendor must hold a valid food safety permit from Environmental Health.

Outdoor festivals and special event facilities are excluded because those uses are regulated separately. The permit process provides for county review of parking, noise, trash disposal and other operating standards.

Property owners will be responsible for obtaining the administrative permit at a cost of approximately $800. That amount does not include private investment needed for site design or improvements.

Until the zoning change, food courts were not an allowable land use because they were not expressly included in county code. Oroville is currently the only incorporated city in Butte County with its own ordinance permitting them.

The Planning Commission recommended approval May 28 on a 3-1 vote with two revisions. Commissioners reduced the proposed setback from residential zones from 300 feet to 200 feet and limited the requirement to sites adjacent to a residential zone.

A subsequent change removed a prohibition against keeping food trucks at a site overnight. Vendors may instead remain on the property as long as they meet Environmental Health's daily commissary reporting requirement.

Board Chair Bill Connelly raised a separate concern about food trucks parking along streets near schools and drawing customers away from school cafeterias. Environmental Health officials said permitted mobile vendors can operate throughout the county, but their locations are governed by the jurisdiction where they park.

Traffic or safety problems involving trucks in a public right-of-way can be addressed in coordination with law enforcement. Those operations are separate from the new regulations governing food courts established on private property.

Supervisors approved the ordinance without opposition following the public hearing.