City to consider trial period for food trucks on downtown square News Staff Fri, 04/12/2024 - 4:36 pm
- (THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Win Graham (right) speaks to the council and audience regarding a draft policy for food trucks on the Graham downtown square during a public hearing Monday, April 8.
- (THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Mayor Pro-Tem Shana Wolfe thanks those who came to the public hearing for food trucks on the downtown square and gave public comments. The Graham City Council will make a determination at a later meeting of the council regarding the draft policy.
Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com
The Graham City Council will discuss possible amendments to a draft policy allowing food trucks on the downtown square after receiving comments at a public hearing this week from members of the community.
After receiving a request in January to have a food truck once a month on the Graham downtown square, the Graham City Council tabled and then denied the request Thursday, Feb. 15 in order to host a public hearing and have the public voice their concerns or support.
The public hearing with the draft policy available was held Monday, April 8 with speakers voicing concerns about some aspects of the policy.
“The policy was developed because several food truck vendors sought council approval to periodically locate their food truck on the square,” City Manager Eric Garretty said. “Council determined that a policy was needed to regulate food trucks on squares to preserve the integrity of the square and ensure public health and safety.”
A draft policy was approved by the Graham City Council during their meeting Thursday, Feb. 29. Under the draft policy, three food truck spaces would be allotted on a first-come, first-serve basis on the southern half of the square.
The hours of operation for food trucks in the draft policy on the square would be Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public speakers who wanted a different date on the square were Win Graham, Jack Graham and Michael Armstrong.
“Food trucks on the square offer a different experience than the restaurants on our square and people that are going to go to food trucks probably weren't going to go to the restaurants on the square,” Win Graham said. “If those food trucks are on the square, those people that want to have a food truck experience, they possibly will spill over to the… different service providers on the square. I think limiting it to Sunday when those retail opportunities are probably most likely closed is a little bit short sighted.”
A $30 permit fee per rental instance will be assessed for an allotment on the square. The city has the right to revoke any food truck vendor permit in instances of misconduct by the vendor, failure to maintain cleanliness of the space or failure to maintain compliance with the policy.
Owner of Brickhouse Pizza & Taproom, Bob Hart, said if the city does move forward with the policy then he would want something that places them on an equal playing field with brick and mortar restaurants.
“Losing a few customers on Sundays to food trucks paying $30 per day rent to be there may not seem like much but it adds up and will affect the ability of my restaurant to turn profitable,” he said. “I personally don't believe this is a smart move for Graham, but if it is approved I sure hope the playing field is somewhat level by making the fees at least $150 per day. Also, if approved, I ask that it be for a 60-day period so that the effects from doing so can be reviewed and evaluated.”
Michael Armstrong, who is the co-owner of the downtown business Graham Wines, said he wants more opportunities for activity downtown to drive more “vibrancy” downtown.
“These food trucks can absolutely contribute to that vibrancy. If you train the market and show them that there's something to do down here our stores will benefit. …Our restaurants will benefit (but) not if they're closed on Sundays,” he said. “If you give us the traffic, I promise you we will reward you as business owners with as much vibrancy as possible. But let us train the market. ...If you want to make it one day a week, fine. Make it Saturday because that's when our visitors are down here and that's when our stores are here and they will absolutely benefit from that additional traffic.”
Council Member Jack Little said he has heard positives and negatives by both retail and food trucks, but ultimately he wants to find the common ground between the two.
“We're here to help everybody,” he said. “We're here to bring business in. We're not here to drive anybody into the ground or run them off. So I think that (it is needed) on a trial basis and, yes, we need to change that date.”
The city manager said at a future council meeting he will leave the existing policy and add an amended draft with the days of the week and amount charged for rent blank so the council can debate what is best for the community. The amended policy will also include the addition of a trial period for allowing trucks.
“It sounds like some of the key issues are putting an expiration period on the policy... and then come back with some data and do an evaluation,” Garretty said. “...There's consensus on that to make it a trial policy.”
Another aspect of the project will be the ongoing Graham Community Foundation on the downtown square at Second Street and Oak Street which could house food trucks.
“My understanding is that venue will be facilitated to accept food trucks in terms of electrical and water connection,” Garretty said. “…The other option that council members may want to think about, between now and the (April) 25 meeting is would that be enough to delay a decision on this issue until we found out the Graham Community Foundation would make those spaces available to the city?”
Little said he would like to get an estimated timeframe for completion of that project before the next meeting. He added that whatever decision is made, the council will take the opinions of those in the community seriously.
“We take this seriously. We take what's going on down here seriously. We are seeing progress, we don't want to see ourselves digress,” he said. “We take each business owner and each retail (store on the square), we take that seriously. We love having you and we need more of you. So this is a serious matter to us and it will be approached as such. We're going to do our best to make everything work for the betterment of our community.”
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