City of Tucson to grant ‘The Pit’ a temporary permit to reopen

Councilman Paul Cunningham, along with other City of Tucson members, held an emergency meeting on Friday, January 13 involving The Pit at 7889 E. 22nd St. On Wednesday, January 11, the popular food truck park was ordered to immediately close due to zoning issues.

Today, the owners of The Pit and Cunningham met and reached an informal agreement to keep the truck park open for the next 45 – 90 days. One of the reasons that led to the closure is that a specific area was being used for additional seating and that required the owners of The Pit to submit a development package.

“There are still some changes to the property and fire inspections that need to be completed, but overall, I think the right agreement has been made,” said Cunningham. “I’m really proud of the City of Tucson staff for stepping up and helping us with this situation.”

So, what’s next?

Some paperwork and a couple of other things need to be finished in order to formalize the plan, but for now, The Pit is remaining open.

In the meantime, Tucson Foodie is collaborating with Cunningham to pull together a stakeholder group of food trucks and restaurants that will discuss local needs, research how other cities around the region approach this issue, and draft the new land-use codes that will be needed to enable food truck parks like The Pit to operate.

If you are a food truck or restaurant owner and would like to participate in the stakeholder group, email shane@tucsonfoodie.com.

Stay tuned for more information.

To keep up with any updates on the situation, visit thepittucson.com and follow The Pit on Facebook and Instagram.