In the summer of 2025, the Humble Cheeseburger truck started pulling into Menke Park. The Marin Independent Journal reported it was serving from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. The town's own notice describes a one-year temporary permit, approved June 12, 2025, that allowed the truck to operate at Menke from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., except on days with scheduled special events. That truck put Corte Madera's Microbusiness Pilot Program into practice. According to a town staff report, the pilot first launched at Menke Park in June 2025.
A little over a year later, Corte Madera is turning that pilot into permanent rules for vendors in three parks. The total ceiling is seven vendors. Menke Park, where the experiment started, gets one. The pilot itself set that limit. The summer the burger truck spent at Menke generated parking and competition complaints from nearby businesses, and those complaints shaped the cap. With a single slot, a morning coffee cart and a lunch truck now compete for the same permit.
Seven Slots, Spread Across Three Parks
The vendor rules are one piece of what community development director Amy Lyle called "basically an overhaul of our commercial zoning code." According to the Planning Commission staff report, a new Chapter 12.47 caps microbusinesses townwide at seven, in these locations:
- Town Park: up to four
- Menke Park: one
- Cove School/San Clemente Park: one
- Public right-of-way: one more, subject to Use Permit approval
Permits would run for an initial two-year term with the option to renew. After a planning commissioner recommended an evaluation step, staff revised the draft so the town reviews each operation at least once every 12 months. The Southern Marin Ledger's July summary of the draft listed further conditions. Vendors would carry $1 million in liability insurance, hold a current town business license, handle their own trash removal, and could not sell alcohol, tobacco or cannabis. Those terms come from a draft and may have changed in the final text.
The ordinance hasn't taken effect yet. The Sept. 15 council agenda called for the council to introduce it. The Marin IJ reported a 4-0 vote that night, with Councilmember James Andrews absent. The Oct. 6 agenda placed Ordinance No. 1061 on the consent calendar with the action "Waive Second Reading and Adopt." An August project presentation showed Nov. 6 as a tentative effective date. The town also plans implementing guidelines "to create an equitable process for microbusiness opportunities," so the application process for these slots is still to come.
Why Menke Stopped at One
The Planning Commission did not set out to keep Menke small. At its July 14 study session, Commissioner Harlock said he could support two microbusinesses at Menke Park instead of one. Commissioner Rodgers said he generally favors more vendors rather than fewer and agreed that several food vendors in one spot can benefit each other.
Staff recommended against the increase. The staff report says that during the pilot, staff "received numerous comments from nearby businesses expressing concerns about parking availability and business competition." Chair Chase noted that parking demand at Menke Park "was a concern when Humble Burger was at Menke Park." Concerns like these came up before the pilot started, too. A December 2024 report in Redwood High School's student paper, Redwood Bark, noted complaints about parking, including from a nearby resident who raised a parking concern.
Menke's setup adds another limit. The 2024 pilot placed vendors at Piccolo Pavilion in four designated parking spots. Lyle explained that the pavilion has an electrical outlet, which makes it more workable than Town Park, but the site has no water, so trucks have to bring their own. The town also planned a small fee for leasing the spaces and the electricity. Every vendor at Menke takes up parking spaces in the same lot that park visitors and nearby businesses use.
Lyle has said the town is not bracing for a wave of new operators. "I don't think we're expecting a flood of food trucks," she told the council.
The Coffee Cart in Line for the Same Slot
The one Menke permit has a long-standing applicant. Local vendor Amy Hughes first brought the park-vendor idea to the Town Council, and her plans show how long the process has taken:
- Nov. 4, 2024: The council approves a one-year pilot for small vendors at Piccolo Pavilion. Hughes is the only applicant, with plans for a food trailer called Town Buzz Cafe selling coffee and pastries.
- March 24, 2025: Hughes tells the Planning Commission that Town Buzz Cafe was delayed, that the trailer has been purchased, and that she is willing to wait for the park renovation while setting up temporarily in the meantime.
- June 2025: The pilot launches, and Humble Cheeseburger's Menke permit is approved June 12.
- July 2025: The Marin IJ reports that Town Buzz Cafe is expected to open in mid-September.
- Sept. 15, 2026: Several residents speak in support of Hughes' application for a coffee cart at Menke Park.
At that September meeting, Hughes said the park is underused and her business would help fill a void. "There's like all these people and they want to hang out in parks," she said. In 2024 she described the idea this way:
"I want Town Buzz Cafe to be a spot for people to disconnect and reconnect. People need a place where they can come together on common grounds and be in the moment and enjoy the park and company."
Redwood Bark described the trailer as needing only two parking spaces, with customers sitting at Piccolo Pavilion over their morning coffee. That is a different use of the park from a burger truck serving lunch and dinner. Under the new code, though, both fill the same single slot. With one permit available, the town will effectively decide what Menke Park offers: morning coffee, an afternoon meal, or something else.
Town Park Is Built for the Cluster
The draft gives Town Park four slots, and the truck that started at Menke has already turned up there. A Marin IJ photo from Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026 shows Humble Cheeseburger serving customers at Town Park. That photo does not establish a regular schedule.
Town Park can handle several trucks in a way Menke can't. The town's General Plan lists picnic and barbecue areas, softball and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts, a skate park, a playground, restrooms, parking and the Recreation Center. The same plan lists Menke Park with a picnic area, a bandstand or pavilion, and parking. The difference in vendor caps follows the difference in what each park already holds.
Both parks are on the town's 2026 staff work plan. For Town Park, it lists a playground structure replacement, east-field turf renovation, picnic-area, tree and turf-mound work on the west side, and tables and chairs for Town Park Plaza. For Menke, it lists an improvement project. These are planned projects, not finished ones. Even so, new plaza seating at Town Park would sit right where four vendors could park.
San Clemente Park gets the single remaining park slot, shared in the code's wording with Cove School.
This Month, Menke Belongs to the Event Calendar
Until the new rules take effect and permits are issued, Corte Madera's food-truck calendar runs on events. The biggest this month is at Menke Park. Corte Madera Oktoberfest runs Saturday, Oct. 10, from noon to 5 p.m., with food trucks and vendors, local breweries and live music. The Corte Madera Beautification Committee and the Corte Madera Lions Club co-sponsor it.
| Oktoberfest ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Five beer tastes, 21 and over, in advance | $35 |
| Five beer tastes, at the door | $40 |
| Non-drinkers, age 12 and over | $15 |
| Children under 12 | Free |
Tickets are sold through the Lions Club's ticket page. An event like this was already built into the pilot. Humble Cheeseburger's Menke permit excluded days with scheduled special events. Whoever holds the Menke slot next will share the park with the town's event calendar, too.
Two other regular stops sit outside the parks. A Patch community listing describes Food Truck Thursdays at The Village as a weekly event with rotating trucks, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the East Parking Lot in front of Gap. On Sunday, Oct. 25, Town Center Corte Madera holds its Trick or Treat event from noon to 4 p.m., with participating merchants, free treat bags and face painting.
The park rules follow the same approach as the rest of the overhaul. Restaurants, banks and hotels will be allowed in commercial districts without a conditional use permit. Small outdoor dining areas on private property under 500 square feet will no longer require parking. Town Manager Adam Wolff said he first looked at rewriting these codes when he joined the town in 2014. Parking was the one point where the town held back, and it is why Menke Park keeps a single slot.
Curious how changes like Menke's coffee-cart slot or Town Park's new plaza seating feel day to day on nearby streets? The Brody Team follows these Marin council decisions closely. We're glad to talk through what they mean for your corner of Corte Madera. Contact The Brody Team.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
