The food truck situation in St. Joseph is still unresolved.
At Tuesday’s Village Board Meeting the board heard from the Health and Safety Committee that they would like to place a moratorium on food trucks within the village and revisit the situation in April of 2021.
However, no formal resolution or ordinance was voted on.
Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges said a formal resolution or ordinance placing a moratorium on food trucks is needed if that is what the board wants, so the village can enforce it.
“Some kind of temporary resolution should probably be determined until April,” she said.
The village board began discussing food trucks in October 2019.
A committee meeting will be held within the next week to discuss the language of the moratorium resolution.
Currently, there are no food trucks within the village. There is a Hawaiian Ice Stand that is owned by Jennifer Wayland her sons. The stand sits in the IGA parking lot, which is private property.
The board discussed how an ordinance would affect the Hawaiian Ice Stand but agreed that since Wayland is paying sales tax to the village, is on private property, and owns a brick and mortar business in town her situation is different than a food truck that comes from out of town.
The history of Food Trucks within the village
During the October 8, 2019 board meeting Trustee Dan Davis first broached the issue of allowing food trucks within the village. Davis said he wanted to look into having food trucks at events but wanted to make sure it didn’t harm businesses located within the village.
During the November 12, 2019 meeting Davis said some restaurant owners had concerns with allowing food trucks and he wanted to meet with them to discuss the issue further.
On Feb. 4, 2020 the Public Health and Safety Committee met to discuss food trucks.
Davis, Fruhling-Voges, Trustee Jim Wagner, Frederick Sturts and Roche Cain from Roch’s, Bob Patel from Dairy Queen, Hassan Fadel from Padanos, Kelly Reynolds from Scratch, Tracie Trotter from Wyldewood Cellars, Denise Hatfield from Jack Flash, Jay Wheeler from Monicals, Kathy Lyons from Geschenk and Todd Woods from the St. Joseph IGA met to discuss food trucks.
During the meeting, the business owners expressed their concerns and were all against allowing food trucks in St. Joseph. They cited mortgages, rent, utilities and village sales tax as reasons why food trucks should not be allowed within the village.
The Public Health and Safety Committee said they would not be pursuing the issue further, however, the entire village board never voted on the issue meaning an ordinance was prohibiting food trucks was never created.
In the past, Fruhling-Voges said she was open to having food trucks within the village and suggested using a permit and fee system along with guidelines about placement to alleviate some of the concerns of business owners.
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