The City of Raleigh wants to slowly \u201cdip its toes in\u201d when it comes to allowing food trucks downtown, starting with private property.<\/p>\n
Members of the city council\u2019s Law and Public Safety Committee agreed Tuesday to draft an ordinance allowing food trucks to park on private property downtown. The ordinance will address issues such as grease and trash disposal, safety, privilege licenses, hours of operation and tax collection.<\/p>\n
Food truck vendors selling pizza, Italian food, hamburgers and tacos are springing up in communities nationwide. In Durham, the trucks are liberally regulated and can park nearly anywhere with a permit. In Raleigh, the trucks are not allowed to park on city streets. Most park on private property outside downtown, such as the Big Boss Brewing Company.<\/p>\n
A city staffer told committee members it makes sense to take the process \u201cstep-by-step,\u201d and that private property would be the least controversial way of introducing food trucks downtown.<\/p>\n
But if comments Tuesday from involved parties were any indication, controversy will follow regardless.<\/p>\n
Restaurant owners in attendance vehemently spoke against the trucks. Safety, litter and traffic are all concerns, they said, along with how and where the trucks dispose of grease and whether they are subject to the same unannounced health inspections as restaurants.<\/p>\n
But the biggest concern is competition from a vendor with such small overhead costs.<\/p>\n
Payroll, rent, taxes and licenses are just a few of the costs a brick-and-mortar restaurant suffers that leave them vulnerable to competition, said one restaurant owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just sent a high tax bill to the city and the state just this month,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re giving me an unfair advantage by letting somebody come in who doesn\u2019t have the same costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf [my business] doesn\u2019t go well … I can\u2019t put my restaurant in drive and go somewhere else,\u201d said a member of the Glenwood Merchants\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n
Food truck vendors said they had no intention of driving out restaurants. Two said they hope to have brick-and-mortar locations someday. One food truck owner said their main competition is brown bag lunches and fast food chains \u2013 not sit-down restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not want to set my truck up on Glenwood South,\u201d said Steve Valentino, who owns an Italian food truck. \u201cI don\u2019t want to compete with what\u2019s there. But I do want to be in a symbiotic relationship [with restaurants.]<\/p>\n
Mike Stenke, owner of the Klausie\u2019s pizza truck, has led the charge for allowing the trucks to park on city streets and is not satisfied with private parking lots. He said in a free marketplace, the city should not be protecting anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that the job of the city of Raleigh — to guard businesses from new businesses?\u201d he said. \u201cIs it the role of the city council to determine who gets to compete?\u201d<\/p>\n
One suggestion was that the food trucks congregate in a \u201cpod\u201d formation in one section of the city to avoid hurting restaurants.<\/p>\n
Food truck owners seemed amenable to that idea, and at least one restaurant owner agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the idea of a food court in the warehouse district,\u201d said Karen Walker of Cafe Helios. \u201cI think that\u2019s a great idea. But I\u2019m really against [food trucks] all the way around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once an ordinance is drafted, it will be reviewed by the Law and Public Safety Committee. The full City Council likely won\u2019t see the issue until April.<\/p>\n
Stenke said he is disappointed with the slow progress. He is in favor of limiting the number of food trucks, having regular health inspections and setting up proximity rules \u2013 as long as he has the opportunity to sell food.<\/p>\n
Food trucks are regulated by the county like any other commercial kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the rules are made right, everyone will win,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know it includes street parking.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other business, the committee approved amendments to regulations for hot dog carts on city sidewalks.<\/p>\n
If approved by the full council, the amended ordinance will require hot dog carts to end sales at 3 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. Vendors will have until 3:30 a.m. to clean up the site. The amendments also require carts to set up at least 50 feet from the pedestrian entrance to a business.<\/p>\n
Committee members said the new times were due to complaints from residents and police about fights and loud activity around hot dog stands. Hot dog cart owners present at the meeting said the new closing time would not hugely impact business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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