Food truck signage dispute pushes Salisbury to consider food truck specific ordinances

Published 12:09 am Friday, January 9, 2026

SALISBURY — After over a month of back-and-forth, Queen City Burgers and Fries made some progress with the City of Salisbury on sign ordinances, and it could mean changes to city ordinances on food trucks.

Russ Hudson, the owner of Queen City Burgers and Fries, addressed the ongoing struggle he has had with the city at Tuesday’s city council meeting. He has been told that the banner he put up on the permanent marquee on the lot he rents for his food truck is not within the city ordinances.

Hudson has a temporary-use permit for the lot at the corner of East Innes and South Long streets that lasts just under a year. The marquee that was left on the lot was from a cigar shop that previously stood at the location. Hudson put his sign up because his understanding from initial communication with the land and development services department was that he could.

“The sign that was there previously was the old cigar shop sign, that has long been gone, turned around. I mean it was truly an eye sore and hideously ugly,” Meredith Hudson, Russ Hudson’s wife, said. “It’s so much nicer than what was there.”

He has since been visited by code enforcers for the city on the lot and received communication from city planners saying that the sign violates the temporary signage ordinance, which is what is allowed for temporary use locations. The temporary signage ordinance says that a sign cannot be “permanently affixed to a building or sign structure that is permanently embedded in the ground.”

Russ Hudson has continued to leverage support from the public on Nextdoor to get the city to drop the issue considering the work he is doing for the homeless population with his food truck. He maintains that because he rents the space that he should not be considered temporary use and the lack of ordinance specifically for food trucks has caused him more issues.

“I received an email from the permits department simply stating I couldn’t have it because I’m a mobile food truck. There are no city ordinances in this city regarding mobile food trucks, yet I’m the only one that continues to be targeted,” Russ Hudson said.

They had verbally told Russ Hudson that he needed to have the sign down by Jan. 1, but there was no written confirmation of that. He has yet to have another direct interaction with code enforcement in the week since the deadline.

City Manager Jim Greene addressed Russ Hudson’s comments after the public comment period saying that his office and others have been working with Russ Hudson to try and fix the signage issue. Despite dialogue, the city still maintains that his sign violates the city ordinances.

However, Greene acknowledged that the situation has made the office consider how there is no specific ordinance for mobile food trucks, an increasingly popular staple of local events and festivals. Neighboring towns and cities have already incorporated food truck ordinances into their codes.

Greene claims he and City Attorney Graham Corriher are planning to work on creating a food truck ordinance based on neighboring ordinances and the input of Russ Hudson and other local vendors.

“With that use, just like any business, there still needs to be rules and requirements for those businesses to meet. Public safety is important. Transportation is important,” Greene said.

For Russ Hudson, these promises of creating a food truck ordinance do not provide an immediate solution to the sign situation with the city. At the meeting, Greene addressed that they will continue working with Russ Hudson on the matter, but they expect he has to get to compliance with the current ordinance.

“We do try to be consistent and make sure that businesses are in compliance. Even though it might be an outdated ordinance, it is an ordinance that the council approved. Our job is to enforce those ordinances,” Greene said.