Coachella seeks public input as officials create street food vendor ordinance
Officials with the City of Coachella are in the process of writing an ordinance that would provide guidance to street food vendors and food truck operators.
Currently, the City does not have an ordinance and code enforcement does not do full enforcement.
Vendors operate under SB-946, a state law passed by then Governor Jerry Brown in 2018 which decriminalized street food vending in California.
The law allows cities and counties to create permit programs for vendors and provides protection against citations from police officers.
The City of Coachella is holding a workshop on Tuesday, September 26 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Coachella Library to encourage community dialogue from those in the industry which will be taken into consideration by City Council and staff to help shape an food vendor ordinance, according to Councilmember Dr. Frank Figueroa.
"I think ultimately this ordinance is going to help attract other vendors," said Figueroa. He added that any ordinance the City ends up drafting "is not meant to make it harder, its meant to support them [food vendors]."
Watch News Channel 3 tonight at 6:00 p.m. for more on this story.
