On a Wednesday in late September, the lunch line at the Humble Cheeseburger truck formed at Corte Madera Town Park. That was four days after Menke Park reopened, and Menke is the park where the truck spent last year as the town's test case. A Marin Independent Journal photo from September 23 shows it parked at Town Park. Two weeks later, the Town Council made that layout official. The new rules allow up to four food trucks or carts at Town Park and one at Menke.
So the newly renovated park in Old Corte Madera Square got a single vendor slot, and the park across from the post office got most of the rest. The first public request for that one Menke slot comes from a coffee cart, not a burger truck.
How a one-truck experiment became a town rule
The experiment started small. The Town Council backed a "Menke Park Microbusiness Pilot Program" on November 4, 2024. On June 12, 2025, the town approved a one-year temporary permit for Humble Cheeseburger to operate in Menke Park from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., except on days the park had special events. The town's own pilot announcement said the goal was to gather public input on whether longer-term rules for food vendors in parks made sense.
Then Menke closed. Construction began the week of April 6, 2026. Under the town's construction notice, the truck moved temporarily to Pixley Avenue next to Town Park, and the summer concerts moved there too. The closure was meant to be short. In practice it gave the town a full season of seeing Town Park work as the place where people met for lunch and music.
Humble Cheeseburger's website now says the truck is "based at Corte Madera town Park in downtown Corte Madera, across from the post office," open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with occasional closures for private events. The site asks customers to check its Google listing for schedule changes before heading over.
What the new code actually allows
The rules sit in Ordinance No. 1061, part of a larger rewrite the town calls the Commercial Code Modernization Project. The Council voted 4-0 to approve the changes on September 15, with Councilmember James Andrews absent, as the Marin IJ reported. On October 6, the Council adopted the ordinance 5-0 on its consent calendar, according to the draft meeting minutes.
The location caps in the new Chapter 12.47:
| Location | Maximum vendors |
|---|---|
| Town Park | 4 |
| Menke Park | 1 |
| Cove School/San Clemente Park | 1 |
| One site in the public right-of-way | 1, with Use Permit approval |
The August 11 Planning Commission staff report sets out the draft operating rules that went to the Council. A few of them change how a park day looks:
- Vendors can operate between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., or for fewer hours if their permit says so.
- A truck can take up to four spaces in a parking lot or two spaces on the street, with town approval.
- Seating can't go in parking spaces, and any seating set up elsewhere has to be put away each night.
- Signs are limited to the vehicle itself plus one sandwich board within 10 feet of it.
- No lighting is allowed unless the town grants express permission.
Permits run two years, and the town reviews each operation at least once every 12 months. The 6 a.m. start is earlier than anything the pilot allowed, which opens the door to morning coffee as well as lunch. The ordinance also adds rules for sidewalk vending with pushcarts and stands, written to match California's Senate Bill 946. A planning presentation listed November 6 as a tentative effective date.
Why Menke stops at one
Menke's single slot came out of last year's pilot. At the August hearing, Commissioner Harlock said he could support two vendors at Menke. Staff recommended against it, writing that "during the pilot program, staff received numerous comments from nearby businesses expressing concerns about parking availability and business competition." According to the same report, Chair Chase noted that parking at Menke was a concern while Humble Burger was there.
The Corte Madera Chamber of Commerce places Old Corte Madera Square at Tamalpais and Corte Madera avenues and counts more than 20 specialty shops there. The cap is meant to keep one vendor from crowding the businesses that already pay rent there. Town Park has more room to spread out, which is why the code gives it four slots.
Community Development Director Amy Lyle told the Marin IJ the town isn't worried about too many vendors:
"I don't think we're expecting a flood of food trucks."
The renovated park and its first applicant
When Menke reopened, it had been rebuilt for people who stay a while. The project notice lists a new ADA-accessible path linking the upper and lower parts of the park, a low retaining wall that doubles as seating, new benches, full irrigation replacement, and new native trees, shrubs and groundcover. Piccolo Pavilion got a new roof, fresh paint and a railing modified to support events. Seven trees that were in poor health or in the way of the work came out.
The reopening on September 19 ran from 2 to 4 p.m., with a ribbon cutting, free ice cream donated by Lappert's, and live music from Rocky Road featuring Sal, Rich and friends. The Corte Madera Community Foundation sponsored it. On its renovation page, the foundation calls Menke its most ambitious fundraising campaign. It also helped fund Piccolo Pavilion.
The first person publicly asking for the Menke slot fits that design. The Marin IJ reported that several residents spoke in support of local vendor Amy Hughes and her application for a coffee cart at Menke Park. Hughes told the Council the park is underused and that her business would help fill a void. "There's like all these people and they want to hang out in parks," she said. She spoke again during public comment on October 6, the night the ordinance was adopted.
The August draft sketches how slots would be filled. The town would open an application window for each available spot, and if no one applies during that window, applications would be taken first come, first served. The community development director, consulting with the town manager, public works director and town attorney, would weigh each vendor's fit with the park and its surroundings, including nearby businesses, along with its ability to run a quality food and beverage business. The staff report adds that implementing guidelines will be written "to create an equitable process for microbusiness opportunities." The town has not yet published those guidelines or opened an application window, so the Menke slot remains unfilled.
The rest of the rewrite
Most of Ordinance No. 1061 has nothing to do with trucks. The Marin IJ reported that it updates allowances for outdoor dining and fitness classes, lets restaurants, banks, hotels and studios open in commercial districts without the conditional use permit they used to need, and lowers parking requirements. Outdoor dining on private property under 500 square feet, for example, no longer requires parking. Councilmember Pat Ravasio supported the changes and asked staff to stay mindful of the parking concerns residents and existing businesses had raised. Town Manager Adam Wolff said he first looked at rewriting the code when he joined the town in 2014.
Where to eat outside in November
Until the new slots fill, here's where to find food and markets around town:
- Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Humble Cheeseburger is at Town Park, across from the post office.
- Every Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The farmers market runs in center court at Town Center Corte Madera.
- Thursday, November 5, through January 1. Town Center's 34th annual food drive collects donations for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank at the Giant Turkey near Arhaus.
- Saturday, November 7, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Field & Flowers, a community market with local vendors, comes to The Village at Corte Madera.
- From Friday, November 20. Santa visits begin in The Village's North Court, across from Nordstrom, and run through December 24. Santa isn't there on Thanksgiving Day.
At Menke Park, the new benches and seat-wall are open now, with a single vendor slot beside them still waiting to be filled.
The rules described here come from town documents and are general information, not legal advice. Anyone thinking about applying for a vendor permit should confirm the details directly with the Town of Corte Madera.
If you live near Menke Park or Town Park and want to talk through what a new vendor slot down the street could mean for your home, Daniel Nebenzahl is glad to walk through it with you. Request your home valuation whenever you're ready.
