La Quinta food trucks temporary use permit ends, owner pushing for more work in city
Athena Jreij
LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ) — For 18 months, Bryan Newman, the owner of La Quinta Landing, says two food trucks brought affordable and flexible dining to Old Town La Quinta.
Newman’s temporary use permit ended September 30th, and he’s now asking the city to extend it into the new year.
“It was cost effective for the business owners, and I was shocked to see how successful they were out of a small food truck,” Newman said.
However, with a food truck ban in the city, his venture has faced pushback, mainly from the owner of Old Town La Quinta, Wells Marvin.
“They’ve never allowed anything more than a three-day permit for food trucks anywhere in La Quinta. In fact, they don’t allow mobile homes or manufactured homes anywhere in La Quinta. So this was totally out of the ordinary,” Marvin said.
Newman says an appeal by Marvin in July of 2024 paused his business for 70 days, as the appeal was worked out. Now, he’s asking for an extension of the permit to recoup the costs.
“We kindly asked the city if we could at least get the days that were lost, because we did pay for an 18 month permit but for some reason, they weren’t interested in giving me the days that we were owed,” Newman said.
Newman says since the permit expired, the food truck owners have let go of their staff and been out of work. He believes a return of the food trucks would benefit not just the local business owners, but also the community and customers.
Still, the question has also risen on if the trucks take away business from existing restaurants.
News Channel 3 spoke with the owner of Stuft Pizza, John Bertram. He says it’s not an issue of customers, but rather resources in the Old Town area.
“That parking lot that has been there for 20 years, since we’ve been around has not expanded and it’s very busy. You know, these guys don’t they don’t have any trash receptacles. They don’t have a way to handle it with their trash, their parking,” Bertram said.
He believes if the trucks do come back, more work is needed on Newman and the city’s part to adapt the lot.
News Channel 3 reached out to the city for more information. They said in a statement that the permit was approved with the expectation the land would be further developed by Newman. They also said there is no plan to offer an extension.
Newman says he still plans to develop the land, but it won’t be done overnight and would like to see the food trucks back in the meantime.
“Knowing that I can’t break ground with a shovel tomorrow overnight, it makes more sense to think that the food trucks would have a place to coexist,” Newman said.
Stick with News Channel 3 as we continue to follow this story.