"I don't think we're expecting a flood of food trucks," Corte Madera Community Development Director Amy Lyle told the Town Council in September, as reported by the Marin Independent Journal.
She was right. On Thursday, November 5, the town's experiment with park food vendors becomes permanent law, and the numbers are modest. The ordinance allows seven spots in the whole town. Where those seven spots go matters more than how many there are. Most of them are at Town Park. The Old Square, where the experiment started, gets one, because it now has more visitors than it has parking.
Seven Spots, Mostly at Town Park
The Microbusiness Pilot Program started at Menke Park in June 2025. Town staff said the goal was "to create a welcoming space for the community, enhance the park experience, and evaluate whether the mobile food businesses are a good fit for Corte Madera." The council voted 4-0 on September 15 to make that a permanent new chapter of the municipal code, and on October 6 it adopted Ordinance No. 1061 5-0 on the consent calendar, according to the draft minutes. The ordinance says it takes effect thirty days after adoption, which puts the date at November 5.
The August 2026 staff report sets the cap location by location:
- Town Park: up to four microbusinesses
- Menke Park: one
- Cove School and San Clemente Park: one
- Public right-of-way: one more, only with a use permit
So more than half of the town's vendor capacity sits at Town Park. The Old Square's park gets the same single slot as San Clemente.
The Burger Truck Got There First
Corte Madera already has a test case. Humble Cheeseburger opened at Menke Park in July 2025, at 220 Corte Madera Avenue, serving Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., the IJ reported then.
By this fall it had moved. An IJ photo caption shows customers at the truck at Town Park on September 23, 2026, and a letter to town staff dated August 11 also notes that the burger truck had moved to Town Park. The Humble Cheeseburger website now gives its spot as Town Park, across from the post office, open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The truck asks customers to check its Google listing for the latest schedule.
The truck moved before the law did. The new code puts the larger vendor cluster where the town's first vendor had already gone.
Why the Old Square Gets Only One
Old Corte Madera Square has a parking problem, and the town has a study to prove it. The town hired the engineering firm Parametrix Inc. last year to study parking around the Square. On October 6 the council unanimously adopted its first round of changes, according to the IJ.
"As we worked with the residents and the businesses in this area, we received a lot of complaints around parking," Lyle said at that meeting, per the IJ. The complaints were about too little parking for businesses and about employees parking on residential streets. Lyle linked the problem to several causes, including the microbusiness program itself and what she called "increased downtown vitality."
These are the new rules, as the IJ reported them:
| Location | Change |
|---|---|
| Menke Park | Two-hour maximum |
| Montecito Drive | Four new one-hour spaces |
| New gravel parking on Montecito Drive | Signed 72-hour limit |
| Corte Madera Avenue past First Street and Hill Path | Existing restrictions removed |
The 72-hour limit already applies everywhere in town. Public Works Director Chris Good said the new signs are going up because "there have been cars that have parked for weeks on end" downtown. Code enforcement officers will enforce the rules, with weekend help from the Central Marin Police Authority. Good said the signs could be up "in a few weeks," depending on council direction. Staff called the package a first step. It is meant to show whether these changes are enough before the town looks at more options. Workshop participants have already asked for a residential permit program.
The Square's established businesses have watched this closely. In an August 11 letter to town staff posted in the town's archive, the owners of Zonda Fine Meats at 305 Montecito Drive opposed putting food trucks in the Old Square lot. They said parking there is "already extremely limited" and that people on foot waiting at a truck would mix with cars pulling in and out. Zonda opened in March 2025, the IJ reported that April, and the Corte Madera Chamber directory lists its hours as Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The same letter asked the town to promote the shops already there. It suggested merchant events and permanent signs at the corner, noting that "many residents and visitors still do not realize that businesses exist beyond the perimeter of the Square because the park and trees obscure them." Anyone who has walked past Menke Park without turning onto First Street or Montecito Drive will know what the letter means.
Councilmember Pat Ravasio voted for the code changes and urged staff to keep the parking concerns of residents and existing businesses in mind, per the IJ. The final rules reflect that. The Old Square gets one vendor, a two-hour limit at the park, and new short-term spaces on Montecito. Town Park, with more room, gets the larger share.
The Same Ordinance Also Helps the Storefronts
Most of the attention went to food trucks, but most of the new code is about permanent businesses, including the ones on the Square. "This is basically an overhaul of our commercial zoning code," Lyle said, as quoted by the IJ.
Under the new code, restaurants, banks, hotels and studios can open in commercial districts without a conditional use permit. Indoor fitness studios and movie theaters are now allowed in certain commercial and mixed-use areas. The town also lowered its parking requirements. Outdoor dining on private property under 500 square feet no longer requires added parking. Neither does a change of use, as long as the business grows by no more than 30%. Consultant Martha Miller told the council that "providing parking can be a barrier for businesses trying to set up in already developed areas."
In an older commercial area like the Square, parking requirements could block a new restaurant or a small outdoor seating area. Those requirements are now lower for the same storefronts that worried about losing spaces to trucks. Town Manager Adam Wolff, who said he first looked at rewriting these codes when he joined the town in 2014, told the council, "I think this will make a big difference in the flexibility for our businesses to actually create the types of the environments we're hoping to have here in town."
The Coffee Cart Still Waiting at Piccolo Pavilion
Menke Park's one slot has a well-known applicant. Amy Hughes has been working on Town Buzz Café, a trailer selling coffee and baked goods, for Menke Park's Piccolo Pavilion since before the pilot began. In July 2025 the IJ reported it was expected to open that September. At the September 2026 hearing, several residents spoke for her application. Hughes told the council the park is underused and that her business would help fill a gap. "It's going to be a positive addition and I've seen it," she said, as reported by the IJ. "There's like all these people and they want to hang out in parks."
The ordinance sets the number and location of vendor spots. The way vendors get them comes next. The August staff report says the new rules cover applications, license agreements, operating standards and enforcement, and that implementing guidelines will be developed "to create an equitable process for microbusiness opportunities." Those guidelines will decide who fills Menke Park's single slot and the rest of the seven.
This post is general information, not legal advice. Anyone planning a business change under the new code should check directly with the Town of Corte Madera.
If you'd like to talk over what Corte Madera's new vendor and parking rules mean for daily life near the Old Square or Town Park, Melissa Crawford is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
