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Chandler weekly food truck roundup shuts down, organizers blame city rules

Chandler Food Trucks, a four-month-old Friday night food truck court in south Chandler, has called it quits for good, organizers say.

The on-again, off-again event was launched April 17 at the Downtown Ocotillo commercial development, but outgrew that venue after just three weeks, forcing it to go on hiatus.

The first week of June, it found a new home at Shoppers Supply, which agreed to host 10-15 trucks in its parking lot on the northwest corner of Alma School and Queen Creek.

The food truck roundup operated under a 60-day special event permit that expired last Friday. Organizers applied for a permanent use permit last week, but learned approval wouldn’t come for 4-6 months, if at all.

On their Facebook page, organizers explained:

After numerous conversations to come to an agreement on how to allow the event to occur while the Use Permit process took place it was decided that the only policy that would allow for the event is the current one which is owned by a handful of trucks due to time and money issues to obtain. Bottom line is the City of Chandler does not have a policy in place currently that will attract Food Trucks and allow for this event.

Fans of the food trucks are urged to attend a public meeting regarding future regulations for food trucks at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, 25 S. Arizona Place #201.

In the meantime, the Gilbert Food Truck Food Court, the state’s largest weekly roundup, will try to accommodate some of the displaced Chandler trucks.

The Gilbert event is held 5:30-9 p.m. Fridays on the northeast corner of Gilbert and Hearne (about halfway between Guadalupe and Elliot).

Organizers aren’t sure how many additional trucks Gilbert can support and is asking the public to show its support by attending this Friday.

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