LAWNDALE, CA – Check Lawndale off as another city that has abandoned an antiquated ordinance restricting food trucks.

The city joins Torrance and El Segundo among the South Bay cities that have drafted new food truck ordinances to adapt to the gourmet trucks so popular with foodies these days. In all three cases, the changes have been due to pressure applied by the Socal Mobile Food Vendors Association, an advocacy group for food truck owners.

In Lawndale’s case, the association filed a lawsuit against the city demanding changes to its food truck ordinance. The City Council responded in early March with a new ordinance giving all food trucks greater latitude.

“Lawndale did a pretty big overhaul. The items we were complaining about were the 10-minute time limits and they had a curfew on food trucks,” said Kevin Behrendt, a partner with Dermer Behrendt, the law firm representing the Socal Mobile Food Vendors Association. “The city removed both of those restrictions. ”

Now food trucks can operate any day of the week and don’t have to relocate every 10 minutes as required under the old ordinance, a Lawndale city official said Tuesday.

The lawsuit did not seek monetary damages, according to court documents.

Lawndale didn’t have a food truck problem, according to Deborah Holland, Lawndale’s municipal services manager. City officials estimate only about three of the mobile eateries hold permits to sell chow in Lawndale city limits. What Lawndale had was an ordinance problem.

“We just wanted to be consistent with state laws,” Holland said.

Lawndale’s old city ordinance didn’t jibe with state laws regulating food trucks and, therefore, was invalid, Behrendt said.

Find the entire article by Brian Charles at thedailybreeze.com <here>