EVERETT — The Everett City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on Wednesday adding criminal penalties for people who own and operate mobile food stands without proper city and county permits.
Officials said they have been looking for a way to combat the spread of the unpermitted stands, which health officials say can run the risk of spreading food-borne diseases. Business owners who operate restaurants and food trucks legally have also raised frustrations with the stands. The unpermitted food carts can offer lower prices than the legal businesses as they aren’t paying permitting fees or rent costs.
The new law makes it a misdemeanor to run a food stand without a current city business license and a Snohomish County Health Department permit. It will allow police to confiscate equipment used to operate the food stands if they don’t have proper permits. Operators at the stands that violate the new law could face up to 90 days in jail and a possible $1,000 fine while the employer who runs the stand could face 364 days in jail and up to a $5,000 fine.
In recent years, the number of reports of unpermitted stands has skyrocketed from 16 complaints in 2022 to 203 in 2025, health department officials told the Snohomish County Council in January. In 2025, a number of people reported food-borne illnesses due to eating food at the stands, health department officials said, which at times operate without proper refrigeration equipment or hand washing stations.
An application for a permit to operate a mobile food unit requires a $1,100 plan review fee. The annual permit itself can cost between $500 and $1,025. To receive a permit, food stands have to meet a number of requirements, like having refrigeration or heating equipment to keep hot food hot and cold food cold, as well as having access to handwashing stations and places to dispose of wastewater.
Staff at both the city and the health department have said that closing the unpermitted stands is often difficult, as tools the agencies have for enforcing the health-related rules usually require vendors to have a permit in the first place. When health officials give unpermitted food operators cease and desist letters, stands can simply move and reopen in another location, sometimes in the same night.
Council members had previously said that many of the people working at the stands may be victims of human trafficking or exploitation by unfair labor practices. In a Jan. 29 council meeting, council member Paula Rhyne raised some concerns over the ordinance giving police authority to fine or arrest the workers at the stands, who may be victims of crime themselves.
“I think we’re concerned about those frontline food stand workers that are being taken advantage of, but also the need to have consistent enforcement,” council member Scott Bader said Wednesday.
Lacey Offut, an attorney at the city, said Wednesday that the police department will undergo training so officers can recognize red flags for human trafficking and point offenders toward getting proper licenses.
“We don’t yet have written guidelines, but of course we’ve got prosecutorial discretion, which we always exercise in accordance with common sense and the intent of the law,” Everett City Attorney David Hall said at the meeting.
The law does not apply to a broad swath of businesses, including food trucks, lemonade stands, nonprofits and farmers that sell fruits or vegetables, per a number of exemptions listed in the ordinance. City officials have said they hoped to target it specifically at mobile unpermitted food operations. The ordinance was amended slightly on Wednesday to remove some of the listed exemptions in the original proposal, like newspaper carriers and campaign workers, exemptions that city administrative staffer Jennifer Gregerson said were not relevant.
Council member Ben Zarlingo said Wednesday the city should report back to the council in a few months to check the progress the new law has made toward curbing the issue of unpermitted stands, or to see if any unintended consequences have emerged.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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