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Food Trucks In Other Cities

February 7, 2012
Food Trucks In Other Cities
February 8, 2012
 
Below are interesting pieces from other cities. Thearticle from Austin is particularly interesting in that, even with restrictionsagainst trucks in CBDs and elsewhere, they were looking to have over 1,600trucks by the end of 2011. Austin is a little bigger than DC but not by much,so the continued and growing popularity of the trucks says a lot about sensiblepublic space management not hampering their business.
 
CURRENT FOOD TRUCK VENDING REGULATIONS
 
Baltimore
1.)  No food truckvending is allowed within the "downtown area," meaning Martin LutherKing Jr. Boulevard on the west, Centre Street on the North, Fallsway on theeast, and Pratt St. on the south.
 
2.) In addition there is no Food Truck Vending around thestadiums.
 
3.) In a residential area No Street vendor of foodproducts may stand or park his or her vehicle: 1) for more than 15 minutes at agiven location; or 2) within 300 feet of any location at which the vehiclestood or parked during the preceding 48 hours.
 
4.) On school days from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., no streetvendor of food products may stand or park her or his vehicle within 500 feet ofthe grounds of any building used as a public or private kindergarten,elementary school, or secondary school. 
 
5.) No street vendor may park a motor vehicle for thepurpose of selling any food product meant for immediate consumption with 300feet of any retail business establishment that sells similar food products.
 
 
San Francisco
2. Protest or Denial of Permit; DPW AdministrativeHearing; Permit Appeals.
 
a. Any person or persons who feel that their interests orproperty or that of the general public will be adversely affected by theissuance, denial, or conditioning of the MFF Permit at its intended locationmay protest the proposed issuance or denial of said permit or permit conditionsby writing to the Director within thirty (30) calendar days from the datelisted on the Notice of Intent. Upon receipt of any such written protest duringthe term of the appeal period, the Director will schedule a public hearing to hearall persons interested in the tentative permit decision. If there are multipleprotests for a single location or protests for multiple locations, then theDirector shall strive to consolidate all protests at a single hearing.
 
i. Not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of aDepartmental hearing, the Director shall cause to be published a notice of suchhearing in the official newspaper of the City and County of San Francisco. TheDirector shall maintain a file of the names and addresses of all personswishing to receive notice by mail of any application filed pursuant to thisArticle and of all persons previously notified of the proposed application. Thecost of publishing said notice and any additional mailed notice shall be borneby the MFF Permit applicant if the cost exceeds the notification fee set forthin Section F.1 of this Order. The Notice shall contain the followinginformation: the name and business address of the applicant, the product orproducts to be sold, the location(s) of the proposed sales activity(ies), thedays and hours of operation, and whether the application is for a new permit,for a change of an existing permit, or for an addition of a new location(s).
 
b. At the hearing, the Director, or his or her designeeacting as an Administrative Hearing Officer, may consider the following:
 
i. Whether the applicant's proposed operation is locatedwithin 300 feet of an established business which sells the same type of foodproduct, merchandise or similar service as proposed by said applicant, or ofany location previously established and currently being operated by a MFFselling the same type of food product, or other merchandise or similar serviceas proposed by said applicant.
 
ii. For the purposes of determining a proposed MFF impactupon existing businesses, the Hearing Officer may consider the type of foodoffered by the existing business and the type of food proposed to be offered bythe MFF applicant.
 
If the foods are “like” then the Hearing Officer mayrecommend disapproval or conditional approval of the MFF permit application.Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, relocation of the proposedMFF a sufficient distance from the existing business or existing MFF to avoidconflict arising from sale of "like food".
 
iii. “Like Food” shall take into consideration theethnicity of the food and the composition of each menu, as well as other issuesthe Hearing Officer deems appropriate to determine whether a conflict of"like food" exists . As an example, a coffee cart should notsignificantly affect a traditional diner just because it also offers coffee onits menu, while a hot dog cart could adversely affect a restaurant thatspecializes in sausage sandwiches.
 
iv. The number of MFF on the same block or adjacentblocks.
 
v. Other information deemed relevant to the determinationof whether the proposed location is appropriate.
 
3. Upon conducting the hearing, an Administrative HearingOfficer shall make a recommendation concerning the proposed permit to theDirector, who in his or her discretion, may disapprove, approve, orconditionally approve the proposed permit.
 
4. The Director's decision is appealable to the Board ofAppeals within fifteen (15) days of the Director's decision.
 
5. The Director may issue a MFF Permit within 14 days ofthe date of the Notice of Intent if no hearing is requested pursuant to thisArticle, if he or she finds:
 
a. That the operation, as proposed by the applicant,would comply with all applicable laws, including but not limited to, theprovisions of this Article and the San Francisco Municipal Code.
 
b. That the applicant has not made any false, misleadingor fraudulent statements of facts in the permit application or any otherdocument required by the Director, Director of Public Health or Fire Marshal inconjunction therewith.
 
If it’s not clear from the above, one must be approvedfor a specific locations and there are protections for brick and mortar stores,something not sought by RAMW.
 
Austin
As discussed, Austin does not allow food trucks on publicspace at all! Here is a link that describes vending approval process in Austin:http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2010-08-20/1070852/
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Jurisdiction:
Washington DC