Mobile Food Vendors May Soon be Subject to Tighter Restrictions
Mobile food vendors in downtown Bismarck may soon be kept on an even shorter leash than they already are; and it's not sitting well with most.
According to the ordinance, a mobile food vendor may apply for a permit to sell food items on any public street, except those streets classified as “arterial” or “minor arterial."
But the ordinance implements a rather narrow definition of the phrase "any public street," as it would limit food trucks and stands to just four in the downtown area: Broadway Avenue west of Seventh Street, Thayer Avenue, Fourth Street and Sixth Street.
And that's not all. Tighter restrictions would also be placed on exactly where on those streets mobile vendors could locate, requiring them to be a certain distance from the entrances to brick-and-mortar restaurants, for example.
The proposed regulations are causing a stir, and reactions are mixed. Darrell Matthews, who own's DJ's Smokehouse BBQ, feels that these new ordinances would do battle with the very growth and development that the city of Bismarck is currently seeking, commenting:
From what I can see here, it's taking any vendors that want to be downtown out of the loop... There's just a lot of things in [the ordinance] that are just not right for those businesses trying to get a start. This is going to be a hindrance.
But Fiance Prom owner Kinzey Whitty begs to differ, as the Tribune explains:
Whitty said mobile vendors who want to operate downtown need to be considerate and not "step on toes" of brick-and-mortar business owners paying rent or taxes. She said the smoke from Matthews' grill made her prom store smell and the grill took up on-street parking spaces during peak hours.
Rolf Eggers, of Eggers Audio-Video comes in somewhere in the middle, saying:
I think they need to be regulated but encouraged... That's what makes things interesting and adds to downtown flavor... I think the city should be extremely accommodating.
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