Woodstock City Council approves new food truck rules, picks less strict route

Food truck operators now have a new set of rules to follow when doing business in Woodstock, with officials anticipating mobile vendors could gain more traction locally as restaurants struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Woodstock City Council on Tuesday night passed a watered-down version of the regulations recommended by city staff.

The move followed council member Wendy Piersall’s request that the proposed ordinance be removed from the meeting’s consent agenda, where items are normally passed as a group without discussion.

“Compared to other regulations in the area, honestly it suddenly seems like one of the strictest,” Piersall said of the staff proposal.

Specifically, council members expressed concern with the staff suggestion to limit food truck operators from obtaining more than 10 permits in a year. Each permit obtained allows an operator to occupy an area of the city for three consecutive days.

“We thought there was some concern by council that these should not be permanent fixtures in the community, that there needs to be a form of balance between how often a food truck is out there versus the brick-and-mortar businesses,” City Manager Roscoe C. Stelford III said.

The City Council amended the proposed ordinance to allow up to 30 permits to be issued to an operator each year, effectively giving a food truck 90 days to do business in Woodstock, if it uses all three days attached to each permit. The council also limited the fees paid to the city for food truck permits.

City staff had suggested $50 for the initial permit each year and an additional $25 for each permit obtained after that. The council adopted that fee structure but only for the first 10 permits, making the final 20 operators could obtain in a year free of charge.

Food trucks that participate in city-sanctioned events such as a farmer’s market, as well as block parties or weddings determined to be events by the city, will not have those appearances count toward their annual permit caps. Areas designated as residential zones are prohibited from hosting food trucks without city approval.

Food trucks have to gain the permission of any business “immediately adjacent” and must give notice to any business within 250 feet of their setup.

Additionally, food trucks owned by and associated with businesses with a brick-and-mortar location within Woodstock will not be subject to the fees, per another council amendment. The changes to the staff proposals were included in a motion by Mayor Brian Sager.

Officials said there have not been very many food trucks doing business in Woodstock but that could soon change.

“I can see with COVID-19, and the reason why we’re coming to council with the changes in the regulations, is we have seen several businesses now that are partnering with food trucks and bringing them into the community,” Stelford said, noting their growing prevalence at establishments that serve liquor but not meals.

Piersall raised the issue of the city not being “in the business of regulating competition.” Council expressed a willingness to adjust the rules and add more leeway to the permit limits if food truck vendors start pushing up against them. The ordinance also allows council to grant exemptions to the permit cap.

But future rule adjustments could work the other way, too, by further restricting legal food truck activity.

“I am still sensitive to the struggle of the restaurants in the last four or five months and an upcoming dark winter if stuff doesn’t change,” Deputy Mayor Mike Turner said. “I don’t think that food trucks are going to sink the restaurants by themselves by any stretch. If it can be demonstrated that something is really hurting our restaurants’ ability to exist and if it’s material and it’s clear, we should be willing to at least listen and possibly revisit.”