Zhanpo “PoPo” Lu, center, holds her younger son, Tiandy Gu, 3, while standing with her husband, Linjie Gu, their other son, Tianky Gu, 6, and Lu’s mother, Xiurong Wang, in front of their food truck in June. The Waterville Planning Board approved plans Tuesday night for PoPo’s Food Truck Court on Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville. Construction is expected to begin soon in hopes of opening by September. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel file

WATERVILLE — Construction will soon begin on a new food truck court after the plan was unanimously approved Tuesday night by members of the Planning Board.

The plan is to develop the vacant lot at 121 Kennedy Memorial Drive into a space that can accommodate six food trucks.

Thomas College graduate Zhanpo “PoPo” Lu, 38, has pushed to develop the project, which initially aimed to accommodate 10 food trucks but was scaled down after Planning Board members raised concerns about trucks not having enough space to maneuver in and out of their spots at the court.

“We only have six food trucks, so I hope we can make a global food truck park,” Lu said.

Lu and her husband, Linjie Gu, 32, plan to serve dumplings and traditional Chinese food from a truck at the court alongside an array of other cuisines from other food trucks by September.

The court was initially going to include tables, tents and a small playground on a landscaped lot, which were all dropped to accommodate more space for parking and maneuvering food trucks.

Customers won’t be able to eat on-site, planners say, and tables and bathrooms will not be built, according to Jeff Allen of A.E. Hodsdon Consulting Engineers of Waterville, whose firm is helping develop the project.

“The committee gave us some great ideas the last time we met, and we tried to incorporate as many of those as possible,” he said.

The parking lot will not be paved when the court opens, raising questions from members of the Planning Board.

“How will we maintain order if we can’t paint lines?” asked board member Samantha Burdick.

“Depends on how good the food is,” Allen joked. “Yes, that is an issue, but I think at some point, if this becomes very successful, they may want to consider paving, but that’s just an awful lot of money right now.”

The food court will be located on about half an acre, according to City Planner Ann Beverage.

The food trucks will form a ring around the perimeter of the lot with an opening on KMD for traffic to enter and a right-turn-only exit.

The property is in the Contract Zoned District/Commercial-A, which allows for eating establishments and a variety of other uses. The food truck court would close at 8 p.m., which is required by zoning ordinance.

Lu graduated in 2018 from Thomas College in Waterville with a master’s degree in business administration and is now enrolled in the culinary arts program at Kennebec Valley Community College, where she earned an associate degree in early childhood education two years ago.

She is a substitute education technician III at George J. Mitchell School in Waterville, where her oldest son is enrolled, and also runs the Discovery Play Group at KVCC.