Food Trucks and Related Issues Move Forward
On Monday, the Itinerant Merchant Task Force completed its work and voted in favor of amending an ordinance to set limits on itinerant merchants (including food trucks) and peddlers, and to set up a pilot program for food trucks. The Task Force will officially report out at a Work Session and the ordinance will be referred to the appropriate Council Committee. The Task Force will also ask that a proposed pilot program allowing food trucks to use public land and a text amendment allowing food trucks to operate in industrial zones be referred to the appropriate Council Committee. LFUCG’s Revenue Department is moving to streamline the application process and fees for food trucks. That ordinance should be presented after the council returns from summer break in mid-August.
Itinerant merchants have historically been firework and flower stands, rug merchants, or any one else who would set up in the parking lot of another business. Peddlers are merchants who move along the public right of way selling their merchandise and can only stop long enough to make a transaction. The original ordinance did not limit hours of operation or distance from residences, and some neighborhoods began to have problems with these merchants.
The proposed ordinance now requires that itinerant merchants and peddlers:
1) conduct themselves in an orderly fashion;
2) be properly licensed;
3) comply with traffic laws;
4) ensure that the vehicle is in good operating order;
5) provide garbage cans and pick up trash;
6) have a fire extinguisher;
7) abide by the noise ordinance;
8) ensure that lighting is not a nuisance;
9) comply with the sign ordinance;
10) stay within the area permitted.
In addition, they must have the appropriate permission before being allowed to operate in a LFUCG park, or within 100 feet of a LFUCG event or the Lexington Center. They cannot obstruct the street or sidewalk or restrict pedestrian access. They cannot operate within a residential zone or any zone where it would otherwise be prohibited. Except in the Downtown Vending Area or Adaptive Reuse areas, they must be 100 feet from the property line of a dwelling located in a residential zone. The prohibitions against distance and zone do not apply to similar activities conducted by churches, schools, and neighborhood associations. Merchants and peddlers can operate from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm except in the Downtown Vending Area and Adaptive Reuse Areas where the hours are from 7:00 am until 4:00 am, with some additional exceptions.
The Task Force has worked long and hard to accomodate strongly held opposing views and interests in an area that has only recently required the extensive attention it is now receiving. Their work will now be reviewed by the relevant committees of the council, and then by the full council, with opportunity for further input at each stage.
My thanks to council member Peggy Henson, who chaired this committee, to all who attended and worked hard to form a set of recommendations, and to my aide Leah Boggs who attended these meetings in my place and kept me up to date on progress.
