May 4, 2020
Food Truck Discussion
Brittney Owens, Town Recorder/Treasurer states
“After refreshing my memory on the Food Truck Ordinance today, and reading all of the comments from our post I want it to be known to you all that we have never denied a Food Truck Permit, Special Event permit, and anything that has gone through the proper channels has not been denied. We have had to waive fees and if it is a fundraising event, or non-profit we always try to work with them. We have had many businesses call and go through the right channels. Some do not, some choose not to, but the Ice Cream Truck or Frozen Ice Vendor are called out separately than Food Trucks. They are actually allowed to go anywhere in Arlington as long as they do not stop at one spot for longer than ten (10) minutes. They can drive through the neighborhoods, they can stop and sell ice cream or frozen treats to anybody they want to, they just can’t park for longer than ten (10) minutes. Anyone that has a Business License is exempt from the Food Truck Permit which is $100 per event but they still have to follow the guidelines as to where they can and can’t set up. A lot of Food Trucks right now are actually setting up on Town property and I think that is where the issue lies. The Ordinance reads that on Town property, it has to be a Town sanctioned Special Event or an approve Special Event approved by the Town. On private property, they are allowed for catered events. For example, MicroPort does things once every quarter where they pay for the employee to eat and that is permitted on private property. School Events and Town Events, the only reason we do not charge money for those Food trucks is because we are in essence paying ourselves. It would just be me cutting a check from one line item and depositing it into another. You are not making any money because the person hosting the event is usually the one who pays for the permit. I will tell you that a lot of comments that I read, is probably not understanding fully what is out there, so I would like to encourage anyone to call and talk to us. We even talked to one vendor today, I will not disclose who it was, but they just did not understand. We were able to get them the permit, they are going to turn it in tomorrow and I do not see a reason why we would not process it.”
After Mayor Wissman speaks:
Mrs. Owens states “We have actually had a business that does not serve food, and their business license is not anywhere near a Restaurant, Bar or that atmosphere, that is inviting businesses in their front door to pass out food. That is not what the Business License covers and that is something that we have to address separately. Just because it is your private property does not mean you can allow things that you are not licensed to do.”