City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Today is Wednesday, 05/13/2026 and the time is 5PM. The regular meeting of the City of Victorville Planning Commission will come to order. Madam Clerk, will you kindly call the

roll? Commissioner Marshall?

Here.

Commissioner Messon is absent. Commissioner Morales. Present. Vice Chair Thomas.

Present.

Chair Marsh.

Here.

We have quorum.

Okay, thank you. The invocation is gonna be led by vice chair Thomas and the pledge will be led by commissioner Marshall. If you all please stand.

Heavenly father, we come before you this evening. First, thanking you for allowing us to be here. Father, we ask that you just guide us in our decisions and help us make decisions that are the best for the city. Father, we ask ask your blessings on city administration and, all within this beautiful city. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Alright. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. At this time, we'll have public comments. This would be a time for the public to speak on agenda items or on issues not posted on the agenda providing those issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. Those who desire to comment on a public hearing item may wish to reserve their remarks until that particular public hearing has been opened. Madam Clerk, are there any speak do we have any speakers?

We have no speakers.

Okay, with that I'll close the public comment and we'll come down to new business sidewalk vending ordinance enforcement and licensing update. Mr. Hiteghi, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the commission. Agenda item number one, as you noted, is the sidewalk vending ordinance enforcement and licensing update. As you may recall, this item was first presented to the Planning Commission in April 2025. And at the time, due to limited data available, the Planning Commission requested a second update after another year of data had become available with regard to the implementation of the sidewalk vending ordinance.

The city street vending allowances are regulated in accordance with ordinance numbers two thousand four hundred forty nine and two thousand four hundred and sixty three. Since the adoption of sidewalk vending allowances authorized by these ordinances, The city's code compliance department has tracked the number of mobile vendor cases created, the number of those cases within residential zone districts, and the city's business license division has tracked the total number of business licenses issued under these ordinances. The collected data shows that there has been a continued decrease in the total amount of code compliance actions as well as the issuance of business licenses issued under the provisions of these ordinances. Various factors such as increased allowances for mobile food truck vending, such as food truck hubs in the Old Town area, relaxed allowances for mobile food truck vending outside of the city, and enforcement actions by other government agencies have led to this decrease. Before you tonight, I do have a brief presentation to go over the background of these street vending ordinances, the city's actions thus far and the next steps moving forward.

There we are. The goal with this presentation is to provide a clear roadmap of the state laws governing street vending, our local processes and pre approved locations, as well as the licensing assistance the city offers to help vendors succeed while maintaining compliance with state laws. As noted, we will cover existing state laws that regulate sidewalk vendors, review approved locations and the processes for determining those locations, the licensing assistance the city provides and the next steps the city is taking to ensure compliance. The landscape for street vending in California has changed significantly due to several key bills. First, Senate Bill nine forty six, otherwise known as the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act of 2018 prohibits local agencies from banning sidewalk vendors outright or requiring them to get permission from nearby businesses.

It shifts our focus towards regulating only for objective health, safety and welfare concerns. As noted in this slide, vending within the right of way is permitted by state law and limited exceptions restrict sidewalk vending in public parks. Following the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act, Senate Bill nine seventy two of 2022 updated the California Retail Food Code to further decriminalize sidewalk vending. It allows for limited food preparation for compact mobile operations and limits penalties to administrative citations rather than criminal charges. As you'll note in the staff report, recent court findings as well also noted that impoundment of vehicles or items is not authorized by law.

Finally, Senate Bill six thirty five of 2025 protects vendor privacy by prohibiting the collection of fingerprints, citizenship status, or criminal history during the licensing process. This bill also requires the city to destroy certain records if they had been previously collected prior to the provisions of Senate Bill six thirty five taking effect. To ensure safety for vendors and patrons, the city has established specific operational limitations. For instance, all vending sites must maintain at least four feet of clear sidewalk space for ADA accessibility. Additionally, vendors must also stay at least 50 feet away from driveways and 150 feet from intersections to protect motorists sight lines.

Stationary vending is also restricted within 500 feet of schools between 8AM and 10PM to ensure motorists and student safety. Throughout this process, the city's engineering department has worked to assist the business license department and code compliance department in identifying several pre approved stationary locations throughout the city. Segments of Outer 7th Street and Monarch Boulevard are listed here in where sidewalks are wider and parking is available to mitigate congestion. Conversely, areas like Outer Bear Valley are deemed unacceptable because they lacked paved width to accommodate both vendors and two way traffic. And a map of these sites is provided in these slides.

And it should also be noted that this list of pre approved sites and this map is also available on the city's website as noted in the staff report. The city works to encourage vendors to conduct operations legally. So the city has provided various checklists and detailed information that outlines the requirements for business license submittal. An example of these requirements is provided, which includes location information, insurance requirements, and health department approval. The city also offers a significant incentive, a 50% reduction in business license fees for the first, I'm sorry, for a pre approved location.

This drops the full $466 fee down to $233 and to apply applicants only need to submit all documents online through our customer self-service portal. The city also works with San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services to conduct workshops and assist in understanding health related requirements. Compliance with County health standards is approved by the County with the city's role limited to confirming appropriate health department permits are obtained during the business license process. So what this looks like in real time to the different types of vendors for stationary sidewalk vendors, the city generally ensures approved vending locations, approved vending times if they are within residential areas and proper licensing. For roaming sidewalk vendors, the city ensures the vendor is not stationary in stationary locations, is not utilizing motorized carts and is not vending in unauthorized areas such as a city park which has an approved concession agreement in place.

Additionally, we maintain licensing confirmation. And lastly, for mobile vehicle vendors, the city generally ensures the vendor is not stationary in stationary locations unless it is at a city approved event and ensures proper licensing is in place. As previously noted, the city maintains a website that outlines the process to obtain a business license to legally operate and complies with all state laws regarding compliance and violation process as noted in the staff report. And lastly, the city's approach to compliance is built upon education and customer service. And with that, the next steps in implementing the city's sidewalk vending ordinances are continued compliance with state law, continued enforcement efforts by the Code Compliance Department, ongoing outreach and assistance, whether that be with updated website, updated handouts, updated, I'm sorry, additional workshops, And lastly, the review of standards for vendors on private property.

That last one would fall within the Planning Department's review and essentially our current standards for street vendors are different than those standards we have for retail food trucks or vendors operating on private property. So some of our current standards for food trucks are a bit dated. They're difficult to enforce. Some of the language is not completely clear. So staff does anticipate bringing forward to the Planning Commission in the coming months an updated code amendment with regards to food vending on private property that would clarify the implementation, that would clarify for vendors and all around update that to meet the modern food truck climate that we're in.

And with that, staff's available for any questions, including myself. I also have code compliance officer George Duran and building official Joe Slagers who oversees the business license division. Staff is available for any questions you may have.

Okay, thank you Mr. Hodegy. At this point, are there any technical questions from the planning commissioners regarding this item? We'll start with Commissioner Marshall.

Yes. I just wanted to have a side of a quick question. So this right here, Alex, or Mr. Harrogate, this right here is unincorporated Victorville, the because this is right by my house right here, and so I see a lot of vending and stuff like that that happens, which, just to be frank, I'm not necessarily opposed to. I think it's great to get it to Molly over there. But this but that is why we would see them in this area right here.

That is correct.

Okay. Got it.

Commissioner Morales?

I just, again, so the red triangles is where, that's where they would be, that's where the zone is for them? It was the same page, that.

Yes, thank you. The squares are the approved locations, the pre approved locations

that

we've identified as a city. I would stress that these locations are not every location in totality within the city. The engineering department undertook a big task to identify those locations, but as streets get improved, development comes in, there could be other locations added in the future within the city that would meet the safety regulations that the city has adopted and there potentially could be other places in the future where stationary sidewalk vendors could set up.

Okay, I do have one last question. I know you said they can apply online. Can they come in as well and apply and someone here to help them and walk them through that process as well for that business?

I believe the answer is yes, but I will defer to Mr. Slager's on that.

The answer is yes. We also have public kiosks, forward facing kiosk computer stations where it does have to be submitted electronically ultimately. Sure. But we can allow them to do it in city hall and walk them through the process as well.

Perfect. Okay. That was my last question.

Pass it. Commissioner Messon.

Yes, I do apologize for walking in late. I do have two questions. I know you mentioned that locations can be added and it says that applicants may request assessment. Is that would be a case by case as they're requesting we would evaluate them and then add them or is it determined based off multiple requests of a specific location that is then determined to be the appropriate addition to the list? Have we discussed that at all? And I apologize if it was mentioned.

Thank you, Commissioner Messon. It is a case by case basis. It is a case by case basis. When a location is requested, the city undertakes a review to make sure it meets the requirements of our code with regards to sight lines, offsets from driveways, so on and so forth, and the safety bypass. It's not a situation where city staff waits for a certain amount of requests to come in before we undertake that review. In the event we do receive a request, we take a look to see if it complies and we'll gladly add that to meet state law.

Thank you. And then I believe the last time we received an update, it was mentioned how there was a disconnect between public health and the requirements and that's why we're not seeing as many get permitted. Are we still seeing a slowdown in that area or does there seem to be more of a, I don't know if collaboration is the right word or maybe the process is more in line. I'm just curious if that's still why we're not seeing as many.

It appears the collaboration is absolutely taking place. Our city business license division and code compliance division has held multiple workshops with the county here at City Hall as well to assist the potential vendors in complying with health department regulations. What we found is that it's generally not the city's standards that are holding vendors back from obtaining a business license or compliance. We've reduced fees with the state laws. We don't do live scanning or fingerprinting anymore.

So it's very much reduced the requirements on the city side to obtain that. What it does appear though is there's an area of being cost prohibitive for the county health permit. Those are things that we don't control at the city level. It looks like perhaps Mr. Sliggers has more to add there, but it looks like that is a big item that holds these up.

I do. Characterized it well. The one thing I would add to that is our approach from a customer service standpoint is actually to tell applicants to basically go through the health department process first. And the reason for that is, as Mr. Howard mentioned, the cost is high. These operations are paying in the neighborhood of 1,200 to $1,500 depending on the type of operation or the food that they're selling. But the main reason that we do that is not to turn them away. It's basically just to tell them, essentially if they pay their application fees to us, those are nonrefundable fees. So we don't want you to start a process that you can't necessarily finish. And in many cases, they don't come back after going to visit the county. I don't want to speculate as to the reasons, but I think cost is probably a big part of that.

Okay. Thank you so much. And I believe that was mentioned originally as well that that's why and appreciate that being communicated to the potential vendor so that way they, you know, we did our due diligence.

And again, we don't want to charge them just for them ultimately to find out that they can't make it through that process.

Thank you so much. Those are all the questions I had.

Vice Chair Thomas. Yes, thank you. I have a couple questions here. And I think my concerns align with those of my colleagues here, especially as it relates to the process being user friendly. And it sounds as though you're providing the assistance here at the city if they come down, the kiosk and so forth.

And I and I think that's good. What about the website? Is it is it, does it give, you know, real good instructions and so forth there? Do they really need to come in to have it done here? I mean, they're ultimately gonna have to come anyway, but, can they get any of the process done online?

Thank you Commissioner Thomas. Yes, the website includes multiple checklists. There is a user guide as well provided in both English and Spanish to assist potential vendors and walk them through the process of what's required. Again, with the online submittal process, if they're having difficulty online, they can come in to City Hall and we can provide direct assistance step by step throughout that entire process. So we believe with the checklist we have in place, with the different documents in both English and Spanish, we also have translators available at City Hall to translate real time if that is beneficial to the potential vendors. Excellent.

Penalties I noticed as I'm looking at the packet here, seem that they've been kind of reduced or the city control as far as exercising penalties, fines, and so forth has been kinda reduced there. But are we in position okay with code enforcement to enforce this activity so that, our citizens are safe and that

Yes, by all means our code enforcement can still enforce the state law and our municipal code as is written. The city did the ordinance update in January, did the first reading in January. The Planning Commission actually didn't see it. The city council took an action that because of its non impact to land use and the urgency of the item that they just took it directly to city council, so they adopted it on that finding. However, it was in response to the updated laws and the clarification really that code enforcement, they can act, they just can't impound items so they can still issue administrative fines based on our administrative fee schedule that's in place.

There just can't be a different administrative fee schedule for street vendors. It appears as though some cities were taking a separate approach and providing a different fee schedule for street vendors as opposed to the one they already had in place. So what the state law update did, it reaffirmed the city's ability to enforce those laws, but it clarified that it has to be the same rules that they're implementing for administrative fees throughout. And then the recent legal finding as included in the staff report noted that that does not include impoundment. City, if that's part of their schedule and enforcement, they can not impound any apparatus. That's all for me. Thank you.

May I have just a couple of questions. As far as when this item was first introduced back in 2025, I believe there was only one actually licensed vendor at that time. They weren't operating in the city. But how many do we know offhand how many actually licensed vendors we have in the city of Victorville right now?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As per the data that we was active as of mid April, we had one licensed sidewalk vendor.

Still just one? Correct. Okay.

Actually, quick update on that. We actually had three of them get licensed this month to update the numbers that are shown in the report. But one thing I would like to highlight is that of those, it's now reaches a total of five between the one that was shown on the report. There's one other renewal and then three that just recently obtained their licenses. Only one of those is actually a food vendor. So to our earlier point regarding the hurdles that it takes to get through the health department process, still only one of those is approved to do food specifically.

Okay. All right. Thank you. So those others would be like miscellaneous or like flowers or?

One is actually a flower vendor, that's correct. And then two of them are clothing. I don't know the other one offhand, but retail goods.

Okay. All right. Thank you. And then the other question I have, falls in line with the Commission Vice Chair Thomas. As far as compliance, what type of, I mean, as far as, you know, not being really restrictive, you know, I really applaud the city as far as, you know, how they're interacting with, with, vendors, you know.

But at a certain point, you know, does compliance actually set in? And the reason why I asked this is because there's one street that I'm particularly concerned about. Most of it, most of the looks pretty good as far as vending, from what I've seen, but on the four way stop at North Star and Amethyst, it's a headache. And it, you know, and I've seen the code enforcement trucks, you know, being proactive, you know, I've seen them talking to the vendors, but all they do is just move from one side of the street to the other. You know, they don't really go, they don't really stop, you know, or they'll put their items, which is mostly flowers or fruit, they'll put it away.

And then, you know, a couple hours later, you'll see them set back up in the same, very same spot. So when does compliance really you know kind of kick in?

That's a great question and that's the challenge that unfortunately some of these amendments in the state create on the enforcement side. So I'll kind of give you an example of what happens exactly, as you describe it, it's kind of how exactly what was down. The officer makes contact with an individual, they may or may not have an ID. We issue a notice of violation. That's required to do that. First, gotta give them a warning. If they've been contacted before, they're issued a fine of $100 and they're instructed to pack up and move until their ride gets there. Sometimes they don't actually have a vehicle that is there. They're being dropped off by another entity, and there is a challenge with compliance. The law does not allow us to confiscate items.

That was part of the recent court ruling. Certainly we can't issue criminal fines because you can't criminally cite that action. And so yeah, the enforcement mechanism is hindered primarily by some of these bills. So generally, again, as we instruct folks to break down the presentation, move towards the end of the street while they await a ride, and if the ride is there within the hour or so, that's great. The officer usually will stay there until that's broken down. They could see that they've stopped the activity of ending.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, because that four way stop, you know, was kind of wondering if there's a little bit more that could be done at that four way stop because it's pretty dangerous. You know, cars are pulled over on the side of Amethyst. There's other cars coming around trying to get around to go through the four way stop. And then there's cars that are trying to turn right onto North Star that can't without going all the way around all the cars that are parked on North Star.

You know? So that's, you know, that's my main, that's my main concern is that four way stop. I understand as far as the, you know, issuing a $100 fine you said, you know, that might not be, you know, something that we can be really enforced because if they have no ID, you really have no way of determining who's who, you know, or, you know, so yeah, that's a headache, But, no, I appreciate everything that the city is doing. Code enforcement is doing a really good job. Thank you. And that's all I have.

Can I just make a quick comment to that? So I'm just wondering, and this is just kind of like a thinking out loud. There is that private driveway. I don't know if it belongs to the church on El Ovado And Luna. So it's like a couple blocks away and it's in this unincorporated, but it seems like a lot of people set up there. I'm wondering if we could just like encourage people say, hey, just a couple of blocks away there is the parking lot at El Ovado and Luna. Maybe we just encourage them to go there because there's plenty of parking, you can stop. And so that might be an alternative. Because I agree, I know the exact stop that you're talking about. When it gets busy, it gets dangerous. And so just as a thought.

Okay appreciate it thank you. Okay and this item there's no action that's required. This is a receive and file item So we'll move on to our presentations from the commissioners and from staff. And we'll start with Commissioner Marshall. I have nothing. Commissioner Morales.

I have nothing as well.

Commissioner Messon.

Again, just apologize Mr. Heidegger for coming in in the middle of your presentation, but thank you for the information.

Vice Chair Thomas. I have nothing.

And I just echo what Commissioner Messon said. The presentations was really well put together and stuff. I can tell that the city, you know, one thing I appreciate about the city of Victorville is while they're, you know, you know, I'm not concerned, but, as, willing to enforce, but they're also, you know, as far as their proactive proactiveness with the clients, the future present clients of the city, you know, so I do appreciate that. And I thank you. This is a well put together presentation.

Other than that, I have nothing. So we'll have any updates or presentation from staff. No update, Mr. Chair. Okay, and the time is 05:29 and this meeting is adjourned.