Food trucks in Stockton could face tougher rules, enforcement

Stockton is looking at new rules for food trucks, including possibly banning them from parking near brick-and-mortar restaurants and increasing enforcement if they do not relocate after a few hours.

The city has some regulations in place for the trucks, but a City Council committee on Wednesday explored the possibility of adding more.

Existing rules say food trucks must move 400 feet every 30 minutes in a residential area, 400 feet every three hours in a commercial zone. But at the hearing Councilmember Paul Canepa said those rules are rarely enforced.

“That’s what needs to be addressed,” he said, adding that he was concerned about changing the rules after years of minimal enforcement.

City Councilmember Christina Fugazi agreed. “The food truck I go to regularly, if they weren’t there, I would freak out. I would want to know where they went,” she said.

Anthony Matsuno serves sushi out of his food truck. He said having to move every few hours means he will lose customers.

“It makes it less efficient to find us as far as you keep moving because then your regulars, people are trying to track you down, so it does affect the business a lot if you move a lot,” he said.

Resident Jim Johnson told the committee a line of food trucks regularly parks along the frontage road on Pacific Avenue, taking up much of the street.

“You can’t see the traffic, you can’t see people walking or anything, that’s my only problem is that it’s extremely unsafe,” he said.

But the biggest proposed change is that food trucks will not be able to operate within 100 feet of a restaurant.

All of these changes must go before a future meeting of the full City Council for approval.