McAllen, TX (KRGV) — The McAllen Chamber of Commerce will close the McAllen food truck park on Dec. 14, city officials announced Wednesday.

Food truck owners met a day after they learned the park would shut down and told Channel 5 News the news came unexpectedly, especially with the holidays right around the corner.

“This is like a Grinch that is here. This is just inhumane; I think they should consider giving us an extension or a location,” Marcela Fonseca said.

Fonseca owns Snobros Raspas and has worked at the park for 11 years at Business 83 and Broadway Avenue. She said the business is her family’s livelihood.

“I pay all my house bills and my employees and the rent here. If it is cold or raining, we are still here because we have a rent to pay all the time,” Fonseca said.

The McAllen Chamber of Commerce leased the property from First Baptist Church in McAllen for $20,000 a year. Chamber president Elizabeth Suarez said the decision to close the park came from a proposed lease increase from the church.

“We are not able to sustain a new lease under a new term with a proposed increase, so we had to make a difficult decision in the last few weeks to terminate that food truck park,” Suarez said.

Suarez said the chamber started the park as a pilot program to help entrepreneurs get into the food truck business. She said the chamber feels the program fulfilled its mission after 11 years.

“The food truck business is not our main area of focus, and there are other food truck park operators we know, and we’ve seen them throughout town. We feel the mission the chamber started has been fulfilled,” Suarez said.

Channel 5 News reached out to First Baptist Church in McAllen, which the chamber said it was leasing the property from. A spokesperson said the church leases only one of the church parking lots to the chamber in a limited capacity and is not involved in the food truck park.

A church trustee said the church attempted to contact the chamber numerous times to discuss the lease renewal but was told the lease would not be renewed.

McAllen City Manager Isaac Tawil said the chamber anticipated increased operation cost regarding the continued use of the property.

“The chamber made efforts to engage in good-faith discussions, but the church did not provide a contact number or email address, and refused to negotiate without a non-disclosure agreement, creating a lack of transparency,” Tawil said in an email.

Fonseca said she worries about what the closure means for her staff before the holidays.

“There are going to be families that are going to be left during these holidays, and we all want to continue to work. We are 12 food trucks, and I don't know what I am going to tell my employees.” Fonseca said.

The chamber waived rent for the food truck vendors for the rest of the operation.