Recommendation to request City Manager prepare an analysis of the possible options for increased regulation of food trucks, and enforcement mechanisms, and report back to City Council within 90 days.
Thank you very much. That concludes Spokane public comment. Okay. Now we'll go to a meeting. Clark, would you please without him? 14, 14, 18. 14. Item 15 is communication from Councilwoman Zendaya's recommendation to require City Manager to prepare an analysis of the possible options for increased regulation of food trucks. That comes from one and this. Thank you. One of the things that I would like to make clear is that I am a big fan of food trucks and the experience that it brings with them. While food trucks have been contributing greatly to our local food scene. My office have received a number of complaints from brick and mortar businesses that are concerned about the impact of their livelihood that these trucks can sometimes pose. And they they feel that it is unfair for food trucks to operate under a different set of rules and regulations and more traditional restaurants and storefronts, while still courting the same customers at the same time and locations that they are that they are competing for along certain business corridors. I think it would be a great idea to have city staff look at courses of actions that we can, as the council members can can take and to promote business environment that benefits all of our entrepreneurs. Of course, the city should not seek to eliminate food food trucks from the economic landscape in Long Beach. We do have an obligation, though, to consider and minimize any negative impact on our local businesses. Some adjustments to the regulation governing food trucks might help. Like, for example, proximity to the business entrances. Permissible hours of operation prior months for providing the bathroom. Other licensing and permitting requirements. All this while still maintaining the desired presence of food trucks in Long Beach. Thank you, Councilmember Pearce. Thank you. I want to thank the councilmember for bringing this item on my team. And I've talked about an item like this for a while. It's my understanding that the city has started years ago on regulating. So there's different departments that have different roles. So we've got the health department that regulates one area and then supposedly they're not supposed to exist in certain other areas. So I look forward to hearing from staff. I've had many conversations with Linda Tatum on this. I think personally from the conversations I've had, it would be wonderful to limit the area that they could exist in and say that if they were going to exist anywhere near business improvement districts or convention center, that there be a special permit that they have to obtain to be able to operate in that. So we can ensure that we don't have six food trucks in front of five restaurants that have spent a lot of resources and time to go that route. So a balance that really allows us to have both is something that I would love to have come back from council, but I look forward to hearing what staff comes with. Thank you, Councilwoman Mango. I would go as far as to add that it not just in the business improvement districts but in any location where they aggregate and prey on customers of other businesses. I think that an interesting dynamic is you take our summer concerts in the park and we often allow certain community businesses to sell to patrons, and then those community businesses make an investment, dedicate staff time, and then here come food trucks parking on the street alongside. I would state that to get a permit of any kind or two, there would be some kind of noticing process both to the council offices and other businesses that they plan to operate in a certain area during a certain period of time or certain days that they desire just something so that local businesses that have made the investment are able to get knowledge and awareness that they're coming. Thank you, Councilwoman Price. I want to thank my colleague, Councilwoman Zendejas, for bringing this item forward. Food trucks are something that my staff and I often have to discuss because we are in a bid, but also our bid is in a parking impacted area. So it presents a lot of problems. What I would hope is that when the report comes back, Mr. City Manager, it can address things like whether a business district improvement district can opt out of food trucks in terms of the parking within the bid. I would like some more clarity on the was the necessity for access to bathrooms within one hour of them being there. That seems to be an issue because we have folks going into restaurants to use the restrooms. Should the food trucks be able to park in metered parking in parking impacted areas or should they be required to park in an allocated parking lot or an allocated parking space? Perhaps we could free up loading zones if that was going to happen. There's options there. And then is it possible to for the city to allow access to city parking lots, to allow food trucks to to exist here, but but not be placed sporadically throughout the city , causing unnecessary impacts in areas where there's just really not the infrastructure to support that type of business. So I would hope that the report can include those things as well. And I thank you, Councilwoman Zendejas, for bringing this forward. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I also want to thank our councilman's councilmembers in the House for bringing this forward. We've noticed food trucks throughout the community, and I think they have a right to be here as well because they are small, small businesses and entrepreneurs. But I think we do need direction and can provide some direction in terms of where they are they're located so that they're not competing, as councilmember said, with with existing businesses, particularly in those business districts that we have. We have business districts that are set up that restaurants are paying assessments and business licensing fees to to be. And it's it's not fair. And so but I do think we do have areas in our city where food trucks can drive. There's parties and hours in which they can thrive as well, because I love going to them after hours. And there's all restaurants are closed, there's a food truck available. You get some of the best food in the city. So that said, I think we should be thoughtful about that. And then using food trucks to creatively program areas that they may not have activity currently. And so that would just be my direction. I would like to see some vision. And in regards to those points coming back from any kind of staff report. Thanks. Thank you, Councilman. Super now. Thank you. And to Mr. Monica, add something else to your list there. If you could look at how the oversize vehicle ordinance applies to these vehicles in a situation near the traffic circle where it was a restricted area and I don't recall the exact number, but I believe they got 40 parking tickets that was obviously being treated as a cost of doing business. So we'd like to know if we can beef up that ordinance. Thank you. Q In councilman lingo. To add to Councilmember Supervisor's comments, perhaps there should be a separate fee for a vehicle such as this that wants to park anywhere and then to add to Councilmember Austin and Price's comments, I love that they want to focus on business improvement districts. I would just hope that we could also expand it to any area that has a business association, whether it's a formalized organization or not. Those businesses have already worked together as well and faced similar challenges, though they have not yet been together as a bid. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see any public comment on this, but I do want to just add a few things that I think, Mr. Monaco, you and I have talked about this topic before, and I'm very interested in it as well. So let me I just want to start just saying that I appreciate councilman's in the house for bringing this forward. I think this is really important. I think, one, food trucks bring an important diversity of food and selection and opportunity for people to enjoy really great food experiences. So I absolutely support them. Some food trucks are providing, I think, unique dining experiences where there is no food being offered at certain times of the day. I think of this Mexican truck, for example, that's on the corner of I think it's PCH and Atlantic that has just created a whole new, interesting public space at night where they have tables out front, they have lights, there's people out congregating. So from a a public space perspective, there are food trucks that are creating unique public spaces in Long Beach and are activating public corridors that I completely support. And so I want to make sure that as we are looking at these regulations, that we're thinking about these these spaces and these trucks that are activating our corridors at night and creating, in my opinion, even safer streets. At the same time, I would agree that we have in in some occasions some trucks that are parking literally in front of businesses and really damaging that business without having the same set of rules to follow. And so I am very interested in that. Some of the topics that I hope you look into, Mr. Modica. One is what exactly is the permitting process? Is there a permitting process? And I'd like to understand that when that comes back to the Council, I'd like to also understand some food trucks actually have lighting and signage that we don't even allow in our municipal code . And so what I mean by that is I can think of one in particular that I have mentioned to the city in many occasions that has such a bright and. Powerful light and signage that is not even allowed in our code yet glares into apartments and homes right across from where they park on a nightly basis. And it is really a quality of life issue for those residents that if they were a brick and mortar, would not be allowed to have that level of signage. And to me, that is really important that we look at that piece of it as part of this permitting process is the lighting and signage on the trucks. I would also hope that we take into consideration some food trucks have a partnership relationship with brick and mortar stores. So, for example, we just have we just had a new cider cider open up here on Third Street. Cider works and they bring in a food truck on regular occasion to park in front of their cider shop. Now to provide food as folks are drinking beer and cider inside. And so I want to make sure that we're acknowledging that there are important partnerships that do form with brick and mortars, and that those partnerships are also part of what we're exploring in this regulation. So thank you to Councilman. And because I think this is I'm glad we're finally going to kind of take a look at this because it's kind of been out there. We haven't really nailed down kind of what the regulations are. And I look forward to this information coming back is just going to come back in a report or an ordinance. So our plan was to come back first with a lot of those questions. We have a lot of those similar questions. This is a difficult area for us. It touches multiple different departments. It touches the county as well. So we'd like to really we're pulling the team together to understand this. Should this pass tonight, we'll come back with a lot of these questions and eventually we will need an ordinance. So if we're looking to implement any of these things, we'll make a recommendation on where we think the council is going. So this discussion is very helpful tonight and eventually you would be approving an ordinance. And I would like if Councilman Sunday houses is amenable it I would hope because I think this topic is so important to so many people up here and it's really a quality of life issue. Also. I like this report and all these questions that come back to the council, whether it's in the form of an ordinance or a report that we here at the council instead of just a memo before we take that next step. I'm sure we'd probably put it all in writing, put in a memo, and then we'd be happy to come bring a presentation and see if we've got it right on where we're headed. And then we can then get direction to do the ordinance from there. And that could be part of the motion. That would be that would be great. Okay, great. And then so we have a motion in the second. Please go ahead. And Castro notes. I don't have any public comment on this item unless no public comments. Members, please cast your votes. Council member, Austin. Motion carries.