Posted on Mon, Jun. 09, 2008

TURLOCK -- Owners of a Golden State Boulevard taco truck are locking horns with City Hall over a rather philosophical question: When does a taco truck become a restaurant?

Mariscos Camino Real opened two months ago with a food wagon and seafood-only menu in an empty lot next to a small car dealership. Owner Ignacio Ochoa went to the Planning Department shortly after with ideas for improvements, including a concrete pad and heavy canopy tent under which patrons can eat.

No concrete and no construction, he was told.

Ochoa and his partner, Rudy Yanez, put down brick pavers, planters filled with small palms and ficus trees, a fountain and a 24 foot-by-40 foot collapsible outdoor-event tent. Ten stone tables with custom tile tops were installed. Two speakers were hung high in the tent rafters. The men spent $80,000 and ended up with a polished outdoor eating space on a patch of leased land.

"Our goal was to change perception," Yanez said last week. "All taco trucks are not the same. It's not filthy. There's space to eat."

City officials weren't exactly charmed.

"We went out there for another call and saw it," said Debbie Whitmore, the city's planning director. "The reaction was 'Oh, my God!' It grew beyond how it was described to us."

Tension between taco trucks and government isn't new. Los Angeles County supervisors in April made parking a mobile food operation in the same place for more than an hour a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or six months in jail. Riverbank uses a similar ordinance to effectively ban them. Vendors can't spend more than 15 minutes in the same spot. The Patterson City Council is in the process of revising its taco truck policy. Modesto only allows mobile food vendors on industrial-zoned land, hence the concentration by the railroad tracks on Eighth Street. Ceres doesn't allow them.

Turlock wrestled with the issue in 2000 as food vendors massed on First Street. A compromise was struck with the creation of an East Avenue taco truck plaza, where four trucks sit on raised pads under small tents near a dozen picnic tables.

The city also created a $160 over-the-counter food vendor permit, renewable annually for $27.50, designed with basic guidelines: Trucks must be on private property, not on public streets, sites must be clean and bathrooms must be available within 200 feet, among other things.

The ordinance left the community development director, a position that no longer exists, responsible for judgment calls, a responsibility since taken up by Whitmore.

"We're trying to come up with a good way for them to clearly understand what the rules are," she said. "They're being entrepreneurial. They've found the more they look like a restaurant, the more people patronize their business. We just need to establish, in the city's mind, just how far they can go."

Eatery faces stricter rules

If it were a restaurant, the site would go through a host of permits, inspections, fees and a public input process, everything from road dedications, driveway improvements, sidewalk improvements, development fees, water, sewer and electrical connections, and a conditional use permit before the Planning Commission. The process can cost thousands of dollars. As a taco truck, it needs $160 and a stamp.

Noise complaints prodded the city to take a fresh look at the site improvements. Owners and the neighbors in Daisy Belle Mobile Park agreed that the music has since been lowered. Nearby Mexican restaurants said they're not concerned with Mariscos Camino Real adding restaurant-style improvements.

"It's a totally different crowd you cater to as a restaurant," said Mario Villapudua, owner of Mundos Latin Grill, just down the road from Mariscos. "There's enough business out there for everyone."

Just across the street, owner Anita Sanchez of Taqueria Mi Casa agreed.

"Competition is good in this business," she said.

City Hall has given Ochoa and Yanez until Friday to take down the tent and remove most of the tables. A small canopy, preferably connected to the food wagon, and seating for five or 10 people is more in line with the city vision, Whitmore said.

But nowhere is that articulated in writing. Her department is working with building, fire and utilities to draft those guidelines for taco trucks. Whitmore said she hopes to hold a meeting for the taco trucks in town to go over the rules. Afterward, she said, guidelines for expanded outdoor dining will have to be developed.

Ochoa and Yanez, who combined own three businesses in the area, including the Mexican restaurant Los Cabos in Ceres and Cal Central Catering Trailers in Modesto, which builds food wagons, said they've considered breaking down their Turlock business and moving to Modesto. But despite the anger and frustration, Yanez said, he thinks Turlock is a strong market and wants to work there, even if that means going through a restaurant-style approval process.

"We were told Turlock is very tough with small-business owners. That's what Turlock is famous for," Yanez said. "We wanted to be the new standard (for taco trucks), but that was our mistake. We should have had clearer plans for the city."

Whitmore said it could be worse.

"Some cities don't even allow them."

Bee staff writer Michael R. Shea can be reached at mshea@modbee.com or 578-2391.