OLDSMAR — The City Council wants to loosen rules on food trucks, but with 224 unresolved FEMA permitting cases and a stack of state-mandated deadlines, officials say the overhaul will have to wait.
During a Feb. 3 meeting, council members reviewed a planning department report on the issue and agreed the city's staff is too stretched by post-hurricane recovery and new state requirements to take on a rewrite of the food truck ordinance anytime soon.
The discussion, initiated by council member Valerie Tatarzewski, was intended as a progress update for residents who have pushed for expanded food truck access.
"I feel like when the public's not involved with our check-ins, it seems like things have fallen off," Tatarzewski said. "We just no longer care about food trucks, even though we spent a long time talking about it."
Food trucks in Oldsmar are currently limited to special events, the Saturday market and brewery properties. Interest in loosening those restrictions surged after recent hurricanes, when mobile vendors helped feed residents in the immediate aftermath. The council began exploring rules that would allow trucks to rent space at gas stations or private parking lots on a daily basis.
But the shift from event-based permits to a permanent daily presence has proved far more complex than anticipated. Under Florida law, the state has curtailed local authority over mobile food vendors, creating a tangled legal landscape for city staff.
The cost has also become a sticking point. Staff estimated that hiring a consultant for the necessary zoning analysis and impact studies would run $50,000 to $75,000.
"That seemed a little outrageous for something as simple as food trucks," Tatarzewski told the council. "We decided it was more prudent to try to handle it in-house if possible. It also was right after the hurricane. So our staff did not have the feasibility at that point to do it."
The planning department's priority list includes the Odeon development, the city hall site, Phase II of the Oldsmar Medical Center and a May deadline to comply with SB 180, a state law requiring the city to overhaul its permitting procedures and software.
Beyond the workload, council members weighed the economic implications of allowing mobile vendors near established restaurants.
"We don't receive tax money from food trucks operating in the city," Tatarzewski said. "Part of the discussion was they could compete with our small businesses as well. So we'd have to look very carefully at where they would be placed if we're allowing them in certain zoning so that they're not competing with the businesses that are feeding into our tax revenue."
Zoning questions — such as how far a food truck must be from a school or an existing restaurant — require a level of analysis the city cannot undertake without pulling staff off hurricane recovery work. Of the 224 outstanding FEMA cases, property owners have yet to contact the Planning and Redevelopment Department about permits needed after recent flooding. The city is actively pursuing those owners to ensure compliance and avoid potential audits.
"We have a very long list of things that our department is doing with limited staff, and food trucks is not the highest priority at this point as far as I'm concerned after seeing this list," Tatarzewski said.
Other council members agreed. Vice Mayor Steve Graber said the sentiment from earlier discussions was clear.
"We all want them, of course, and how can we get them here, but we also need all of the things that are currently ahead of it and ongoing," Graber said.
The council voted to maintain the status quo, keeping food trucks tied to special events and the Saturday market. The planning department has listed food truck provisions as a future regulatory item, though progress depends on completion of higher-priority projects, including Tampa Road corridor updates and the sunsetting of the Community Redevelopment Agency.