Yuba City plays whack-a-mole with street vendors. Will impounding food carts help?
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- Yuba City council proposes ordinance to fine and impound unpermitted food vending gear.
- Officials cite health risks, unfair competition, illegal pop-up food operations.
- Draft includes appeal process, youth carveouts, and coordination with county health permit
More pop-ups, more problems for Yuba City officials trying to crack down on a growing community of open-air food vendors in city limits.
But will taking away their food carts and cookware solve the problem?
Yuba City Council members directed city staff to move forward with changes to an ordinance intended to add more enforcement options to deter food vendors without licenses or permits from setting up shop in parking lots and sidewalks throughout the city.
“We know what’s going on in our city. These operations are just popping up,” said Dave Shaw, Yuba City councilmember, at a recent meeting. “They’re not getting permission. They’re just showing up, setting up in a parking lot or setting up in front of a business.”
Health concerns
Vendors serving food and drinks from carts and makeshift restaurants have sprouted along some of the city’s main thoroughfares, raising public health and local business concerns. Officials said the presence of unpermitted vendors — ranging from food carts to unlicensed food trucks to pop-up restaurants complete with tents, seating and music — has increased in recent years.
Now the city wants more tools to expand its limited enforcement options, which would start with warnings, then fines and may include confiscating food, equipment and carts found in violation of city ordinance and health codes.
City officials pointed to health concerns — such as a lack of hand-washing stations and health permits — as reasons for more restrictive oversight. They also noted an unfair advantage for vendors operating outside the rules compared to local restaurants and licensed food trucks that meet health and legal requirements.
“Basically it’s like going to a tailgate party where someone sets up a big set-up out in the parking lot,” said Mayor Marc Boomgaarden. “It’s a lot more complicated than a guy that’s just pushing a cart with hot dogs on it, or a fruit cart. And it’s directly competing with the brick and mortar restaurants that are doing things the right way.”
Boomgaarden said the added enforcement in Yuba City would resemble changes Sacramento County officials introduced to control growing street vendor pop-ups.
The proposed changes, if approved, would create a city program that sets restrictions for sidewalk vendors and other street-side businesses that set up and tear down their operations day by day. The city would add the authority to impound equipment owned by people caught vending without proper licenses and permits and hold on to the gear for up to 30 days.
Owners may reclaim the equipment with proof of ownership, but the city could charge them for costs associated with seizure and storage. The ordinance would also allow for an appeal process.
“We’re not confiscating on the first contact,” Boomgaarden said. “That’s just not happening.”
What’s the problem?
Yuba City established its food-vending code in 2010. Since then, state law changed, along with the prevalence of people selling food and drinks on the street without proper licenses and health permits, according to city officials.
“We as a city have seen a significant spike in illegal vending operations, especially with illegal food vendors temporarily setting up on both public and private property,” Doug Libby, development services director, told council members.
State law limits how cities may regulate sidewalk vendors, requiring the creation of a formal program to make even limited restrictions only when “directly related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns,” according to a city report.
“We can issue all the administrative fines we want, but we will never collect them,” Libby said. “That’s been a frustrating part for code enforcement.”
In addition to the added authority to take equipment from vendors suspected of operating illegally, the changes would clarify local permit requirements — including compliance with county health regulations — and set distance requirements keeping vendors away from special events.
City officials drafted a carveout for “young entrepreneurs” as a means of not having the added restrictions deter minors dabbling in small businesses, such as lemonade stands.
The city currently offers business licenses and vending permits required for selling food and drink within the city. Those come in addition to health permits handled by Sutter County.
City council members also questioned what role the county should have in enforcing the rise of street vending within the city.
“We shouldn’t be the only bad guy, I guess,” Boomgaarden said. “Because we’re not a bad guy, we’re protecting the public’s health. We’re protecting the commerce of our permit-paying, rules-obliging folks.”
City officials expect to present the ordinance to the planning commission for approval in February. If planning commission members approve the revised ordinance, it would return to city council members for two readings before going into effect.
