Admitting it made an error and wanting to fix it, the Langley City Council approved a handful of changes that will allow the city’s first food truck to keep operating this year.

“We are going to make mistakes, as is everyone in this goddamn room,” said Councilman Bruce Allen to a packed crowd at City Hall. “And we made one.”

The food truck was issued a desist business order July 2 after operating for the previous two weekends and being licensed by the city. An emergency two-day stay of the desist order was approved by the city council July 3, allowing owner Joe Wierzbowski to sell food he’d purchased ahead of the Independence Day weekend.

More than 40 people filled the seats of city hall with a handful of people standing along the walls and doorways of the city council’s regular meeting July 6.

Ten people spoke in favor of the council doing whatever it could to allow The Big Wierzbowski food truck to keep cooking. They ranged from a simple request to allow for a variance/waiver to the rules to an impassioned and admittedly angry expression from one of the owner’s friends. One young woman, who identified herself as a senior at South Whidbey High School, said she represented her peers, whose voices often go unheard, in support of the options food trucks present.

“I’m kinda disappointed this was handed to us and then taken away,” she said, adding that the 20-foot length restriction was “preposterous because it’s a kitchen on wheels.”

Facing an outpouring of support for owner Joe Wierzbowski’s food truck at the Monday meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve amendments to the city’s mobile food vendor ordinance.

Wierzbowski read from a statement that his truck is 3 feet, 10 inches over the length restriction — the same measurement as his daughter.

In an audio recording of a previous city council meeting when the application was approved, Wierzbowski can be heard answering a council member’s question about the truck’s dimensions and stating it was 24 feet long.

“Everybody did know,” Wierzbowski said, after having Councilman Thomas Gill play the recording for the council to hear.

Mayor Fred McCarthy presented two options to the council, both of which allowed for Wierzbowski to resume operations. His preferred recommendation was to let Wierzbowski bring his truck into town while the mayor concluded an investigation into allegations of the city’s approval of the application knowing it was in violation of the code’s length restriction of 20 feet. The council approved the second option — approving a series of amendments to the mobile food vendor ordinance (Section 12.22 of the Langley Municipal Code) and asking McCarthy to complete his investigation.

“When I received the email (about the desist business order) on the second (of July), to say I was ticked off is an understatement,” Gill said.

“I know we screwed up,” he added.

Chief among the changes was the elimination of defined length and width for mobile food vehicles. Also included in the ordinance amendments were the addition of council-approved extra hours of operation, which Director of Community Planning Michael Davolio said was largely included with regard to the upcoming Ragnar Relay, a multi-day footrace that concludes at the fairgrounds in Langley, and other special events, which also received a special exemption from the ordinance’s requirements.

Hoping to mitigate noise created by a generator, the city opted to allow for mobile food vendors to connect to city power supplies and be charged for power.

Councilwoman Rene Neff said the city is on a steep learning curve with this ordinance. Putting food trucks in front of Hladky Park on First Street, for example, didn’t make sense because it blocked the view and was a poor fit, she said. As Langley goes forward with this first pass at food trucks, she said better locations need to be identified and vetted.

Neff also said the council may have been caught up in the enthusiasm for a food truck and lost sight of its function to be the last line of inspection before ordinances become law.

“We were so excited about the thought of it … that when you said it was 24 feet, it went right over my head,” she said.

Wierzbowski will be allowed to resume business after this weekend. When the ordinance was originally written, it excluded food trucks licensed by the city from operating during Choochokam Arts Festival in the downtown business district. The festival is this weekend, which coincides with the five-day period before the amendments kick in.

“In the end, I just want to cook some food,” Wierzbowski said to the council.