The Long Beach City Council could move toward greater regulation and enforcement of food trucks in an effort to curb potential negative effects on local businesses.

The council on Tuesday, Feb. 18, directed the city manager to prepare an analysis of options for increased regulation and enforcement of food trucks and to report back within 90 days.

“While food trucks have been contributing greatly to our local food scene, my office has received a number of complaints from brick-and-mortar businesses that are concerned about the impact to their livelihood that these trucks can sometimes pose,” Councilwoman Mary Zendejas, who brought the motion forward, told the City Council on Tuesday.

“They feel that it’s unfair for food trucks to operate under a different set of rules and regulations than more traditional restaurants and storefronts,” she said, “while still courting the same customers at the same time.”

Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce said she looks forward to hearing back from city staff on the council’s options.

“It would be wonderful to limit the area that they could exist in, and say that if they were going to exist anywhere near business improvement districts or the Convention Center that there be a special permit that they have to obtain to be able to operate” there, she said.

In light of their increasing popularity, the City Council imposed regulations on food trucks in 2011.

The goal of those regulations was to both support their presence as a service to residents and visitors while regulating them “appropriately to avoid an undue impact on residential neighborhoods, brick and mortar restaurants, and cafes, and street and sidewalk transit,” according to the motion.

While food trucks offer a variety of fare at times and places often not served by brick and mortar businesses, they can also park near restaurants, sparking concerns that these brick and mortars are losing customers, Zendejas said.

Because food trucks are not subjected to many of the permitting and licensing requirements as restaurants, they can often offer lower prices for the same cuisine.

The City Council could examine regulations concerning how close the trucks can operate next to business entrances, their hours of operation, compliance with the existing regulation that a public bathroom is available within a short distance as well as other rules.

Such rules could reduce competition and impacts on brick and mortars while maintaining food trucks’ desired presence in the city, Zendejas said.