Food truck owners protest proposed new regulations
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Key West’s latest effort to regulate the popular food trucks that are popping up around the island will be difficult if not impossible to adhere to, according to some truck owners.
City building officials have been stymied in their past efforts to place restrictions on the truck owners, who successfully argued in court that since the trucks are licensed vehicles, the state motor vehicles division, not the city, oversees their operations. But a new set of strict regulations drawn up by the city planning department and sent to the planning board would put the city in charge.
“Its entire focus is on the regulation of food trucks on private property to assure the public health, safety and welfare while providing for compatibility of use of food trucks with surrounding commercial properties,” said City Planner Don Craig in a nine-page executive summary to the planning board.
Among Craig’s recommendations is that food trucks on private property must be moved off that site every night and operating hours would be limited from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. In addition, if open for business for more than two hours, truck owners must have permission from a business within 150 feet for employees to use their restroom. And no food trucks can operate on private property within 100 feet of a licensed restaurant or food service facility.
“Recently, the city has had difficulty regulating restaurants which claimed immunity from regulation because of having their food preparation areas located in or on trailers licensed by the state as vehicles,” Craig said in his memo. “Also the city has had a problem with carts expanding pre-existing area or use and functioning as a restaurant without the appropriate review and setting of conditions for operation.”
The proposed regulations, which the planning board will discuss at its Oct. 16 meeting, appear aimed at putting them out of business, some truck owners said. Eli Pancamo, owner of Garbo’s Grill, a four-year old food cart currently operating on private property at 129 Simonton St., objected to several of the proposed rules, including the limited hours of operation and having to move his cart every day. Garbo’s which has been featured on numerous television dining shows and in newspaper and magazine articles, was a permanent fixture on its previous Caroline Street site. It moved recently to Simonton Street, where it also stays in place. Having to move the cart every night would be impossible, Pancamo said.
“It’s like they [city planners] are narrowing it down to where it won’t work. I’m scared to sign a new lease. I’m scared to get a bigger cart. I’m scared to do anything,” he said.
“I don’t know who decided that food trucks are public enemy Number One,” said Owen Trepanier, a local urban planner and development consultant who is working with four food truck owners to respond to the proposed regulations.
Michael Wilson, owner of White Street Station, a stationary food truck located in the service station parking lot at the corner of Truman and White streets, was also concerned about the proposed new ordinance. While he believes that any new regulations won’t apply to him, since he has a pre-existing business and had all charges filed by the city against his business dismissed by a special magistrate judge, Wilson was particularly concerned about having to find a nearby business willing to let any food truck employees use its restrooms.
“That may be a tough thing to achieve unless you have a good relationship with another business owner,” he said.
As for not being allowed to set up on private property within 100 feet of another licensed restaurant or food service facility, Wilson said that would also put a burden on food truck owners.
“It will be tough for Duval Street because there are restaurants about every 10 feet,” he said.
Both Wilson and Pancamo agreed that some truck regulation is needed to ensure that the popular food carts don’t park in front of residential homes and don’t blanket the city. But, among their complaints, eliminating customer seating is unreasonable, they said. Garbo’s and Cayo Mexican Cantina, formerly Yebo’s Island Grill at 629 Duval St., both have a few benches for customers. White Street Station does not have seating but has several old ironing boards where customers can stand while they eat. However, “stand up counters” would also be outlawed under the new ordinance.
“Let’s be realistic and not try to suffocate them,” Pancamo said. “They’re just going over the top. I don’t want any special privileges. But there has to be another side to it.”
Trepanier said there are several “peculiarities” in the new regulations that the food truck owners want to address before the planning board, including two new annual fees that would apply to the owners, a $500 administrative processing fee and a $750 solid waste collection fee.
“Why do we have to have all the same licensing as restaurants and then get saddled with an extra waste management and processing fee which comes to over $1,000,” he asked, adding, “In my experience, when the city is writing new regulations, they reach out to that industry. That hasn’t happened. It will. I think the city staff is doing the right thing and moving it through the public process.”
If the planning board approves the proposed ordinance, it would come before city commissioners for two readings before becoming law.
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