Food truck operators looking to serve customers along League City's commercial corridors will no longer need a city permit if the City Council approves an ordinance on its final reading Tuesday, July 28.
The vote, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Council Chambers, 200 W. Walker St., would bring League City into compliance with House Bill 2844, a state law that took effect July 1 and shifted food truck permitting authority from cities and counties to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
League City's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the zoning-related changes 4-0 on June 25, according to the council agenda. The July 28 meeting marks the second and final reading required under the city's two-reading ordinance process, with Mayor Nick Long's council taking the vote.
What changes for food truck operators
Under the old system, food truck owners had to obtain a separate permit from every city where they wanted to operate. Those fees could run several hundred dollars per jurisdiction, according to the Texas Tribune.
Under HB 2844, authored by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, operators instead obtain a single statewide DSHS permit. Fees range from $300 to $1,350 for the initial application and inspection, and $300 to $850 per year for renewal, depending on a three-tier system based on how food is prepared.
DSHS estimates it will license about 19,000 food trucks statewide, and the agency will maintain a public database listing all licensed trucks along with inspection results and complaints.
"In many cases, they want to do business in different jurisdictions, different towns, different communities, different counties, and they found themselves having to get basically the same inspection for the same type of permit in multiple jurisdictions," Landgraf told the Texas Tribune in April.
What League City keeps
Cities still control where food trucks can park. League City retains authority over zoning and fire codes under the new law, meaning the council can still regulate where mobile vendors set up without collecting the permit fees that HB 2844 now reserves for the state. The ordinance on Tuesday's agenda amends two sections of city code: Chapter 125, Article 3, covering zoning regulations for mobile food vendors, and Chapter 46, Section 46-104, governing food booths and food vendors. The city's fire chief sponsored the Chapter 46 changes, according to council records.
Landgraf told the Texas Tribune in April that the bill "really only has to do with the health inspection permit authority" and that local governments can still require businesses to follow zoning and fire safety rules.
