Old food truck rules to stick
After staff changed vendor regulations, city committee seeks to strike new balance
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Out with the old, in with the old. While not quite how the saying goes, it was what city councillors essentially decided when again debating food truck location regulations Monday at a municipal services committee meeting.
Sousanh Chanthalangsy, owner of One of a Thai food truck, says she supports last year's regulations for food trucks in the city. Despite a new set of regulations, it appears last year's will stand. - photo courtesy of One of A Thai |
At issue was a new set of rules city administration had drafted for this year allowing multiple food trucks at parking meters along Franklin, where last year only one truck was allowed per block. As well, a prohibition on trucks along 52 Street near the Northwest Tower was set to be lifted.
However, last week Javaroma co-owner Rami Kassem said he wasn't sure why the changes were made. Nalini Naidoo, the city's director of communications and economic development, said it came after public consultations, including a survey that showed respondents wanted food trucks bunched up.
Coun. Niels Konge brought the issue back to committee to see if a resolution could be found.
"We struggle with the parking in the downtown, so it was kind of shocking to me to hear that with the changes, we could have an entire city block taken by food trucks," he said.
Senior administrative officer Dennis Kefalas said staff had not heard any issues until Kassem attended the council meeting. He said somewhere like in front of the Greenstone Building would be ideal for several trucks since the sidewalk is wider, there is seating and there's a large concentration of nearby customers from the office buildings. Konge said they were valid points but suggested grouping trucks in Somba K'e Civic Plaza might be better.
Kefalas said that during discussions, the operators of Main Street Donair & Falafel were against parking trucks in the vacant city-owned lot at the corner of 50 Avenue and 50 Street.
Coun. Adrian Bell suggested that the old rules from last year limiting one truck per block be re-instated, though with two food trucks allowed in front of the Greenstone Building on Franklin.
"I'm of the opinion that a proper balance to strike is somewhere between what we did last year and what we've proposed this year," Bell said.
"It's definitely a bit of a touchy issue. We have two different interests we're trying to balance," said Coun. Julian Morse.
Sousanh Chanthalangsy, owner of the One of Thai food truck, was the only mobile vendor to comment at the meeting. She supported having one truck per block, like last year, as well as the idea of having parking meters specifically designated for the trucks through the summer.
Thomas McGarrell, a general manager of Boston Pizza, said he was there not on behalf of the location but to speak to his experience with food trucks in Calgary. One day when regulations were looser there, several trucks parked outside a business and cut sales that day by about 95 per cent.
"I never regained all of my sales but I got a lot of it back because we started to do better things," McGarrell said.
After the presentations, councillors formed a general consensus around sticking with what worked in the past. Another of Bell's ideas to also have specific parking meters reserved for food trucks received less support.
Mayor Mark Heyck said a motion would come forward for council approval.
