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Food truck owner aims to extend stay

City weighs permit extension for Mariana’s Authentic Cuisine
Marianah Hiddyat, owner of Mariana’s Authentic Cuisine at the corner of College Drive and East Eighth Avenue, is hoping to receive a permit extension from the city to operate through November.

The Chinese and Southeast Asian food truck on College Drive is fighting to stay open.

Durango regulations that limit how long a food truck can remain in one location have made it tough for the businesses to stay open. Since The Box closed at the end of September, Mariana’s Authentic Cuisine has lobbied the city to stay open.

Unlike other cities, the trucks in Durango can’t operate on a public street or in a park. They must find a private lot and request a six-month permit from the city to operate. When the six months of permitted operation ends, the business must vacate the site for six months. If the business finds an alternative location, it can apply for another six-month permit.

It’s a model the city designed to balance concerns about food trucks undercutting restaurants and the entrepreneurial opportunity they offer, city officials told The Durango Herald previously.

Marcos Wisener, owner of The Box at Main Avenue and 11th Street, opted to close and vacate the site to stay within city regulations. In September, he said he hoped to reopen once the required six months lapsed.

Southeast Asian chef Marianah Hiddyat has gone before the Durango City Council twice in recent months to ask the board to revise the code because there are so few sites in town that provide all the utilities that food trucks need to operate.

This week she was joined by Crissy Fuller, a concerned resident who wants to see food truck culture flourish in Durango.

“I just need to get to the root of the obstacles we have in Durango,” she said.

Fuller is working with Hiddyat to help her stay open and find an alternate location.

Hiddyat has also gathered 431 signatures on a petition to show community support for her business and location. Her goal is 500.

The city planning department is currently considering her application for an extension that would allow her to operate through the end of November, said Nicol Killian, the department manager. In the meantime, the city is allowing her to stay open.

Some Durango city councilors expressed interest in re-evaluating the regulations after hearing from Hiddyat and Wisener. The planning department is currently discussing revisiting those regulations. But changes are unlikely to be made until 2016, Killian said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com



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