Minutes. Food Trucks Workshop. The City of Daytona Beach, Florida. Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Transcription

1 Minutes Food Trucks Workshop The City of Daytona Beach, Florida Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Minutes of the of the Food Truck Workshop of the City Commission of The City of Daytona Beach, Florida, held on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in room 149b, City Hall, 301 S. Ridgewood Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL Attendance. Also Present: Commissioner Aaron Delgado Present Commissioner Kelly White Present Commissioner Robert Gilliland Present Commissioner Dannette Henry Present Commissioner Paula Reed Present Commissioner Ruth Trager Not Present Mayor Derrick Henry Present James V. Chisholm, City Manager Robert Jagger, City Attorney Letitia LaMagna, City Clerk 1. Welcome Mayor Henry welcomed everyone to the workshop. 2. Presentations James V. Chisholm, City Manager, stated that staff had put together a lot of information on how other communities have addressed Food Trucks. Jim Morris, Deputy City Manager, stated they gathered regulations from as many places as they could and they are presenting that information to the Commission in the notebook provided. He described the various different types of Food Trucks. He suggested if they allow them they should allow both Food Trucks and Food Trailers. He briefly went over the State licensing and such. Food Trucks can bring services into areas that can't support them permanently or seven days a week. We suggested there should be separation from brick and mortar facilities that may be offering the same product, unless that brick and mortar place wants to have that if it is complimentary. The owner would then be able to make that decision. 1

2 Mayor Henry asked for an example. Mr. Morris gave the example of a food truck being placed in a lot next to a restaurant that sells similar product. The brick and mortar store is paying taxes and doing everything to maintain their location competing against a competitor that does have those additional costs. It's recognition of your long term investors and property owners. We want to make sure that food trucks are maintaining customer safety. The Commission needs to decide what type of zoning they should be allowed in, such as redevelopment zones. He discussed food festival or a special event for food trucks. He talked about trash disposal issues and washrooms and restrooms. Mr. Morris recommended a pilot program with a sunset provision. They can then try it and see if it's something we want to continue and make changes to things that aren't working if they want to continue. Mr. Chisholm stated the last page gives them an outline of decision points. question is are they interested in permitting these types of activities. The first 3. Discussion Commissioner Gilliland stated there would be pushback from areas that have brick and mortar restaurants. We do however how large number of areas that don't have restaurants and wouldn't take business away from restaurant owners. Commissioner Trager arrived at 4:53 p.m. Mayor Henry stated he would also like to discuss the types of food trucks. There are several areas that would be considered food deserts. These areas would be more open for food trucks. Commissioner Delgado stated there is a company, Roots & Tails that provides farm fresh vegetables and meats as well as cooked meals. There is also discussion right now in Tallahassee about the SNAP program and Farmer's Markets. Midtown may be one area that would benefit from a food truck like this. They can come in with a much lower overhead than a grocery store. We could also do a special event with a cook-off type competition. He has seen an online poll and it leaned overwhelming in favor of food trucks. Mayor Henry asked about SNAP and farmers market. Commissioner Delgado stated they are trying to get assistance from the government for the technology to accept SNAP. Commissioner Gilliland stated the technology is a barrier. Commissioner White stated they are trying to tackle this with Downtown Development Authority (DDA). They are a little more regulatory than a regular credit card machine. 2

3 Commissioner Delgado stated a farmer's market/food truck concept...he doesn't see that as anything but a win for a community. Commissioner Gilliland asked about the spacing issue. Mr. Morris stated that the spacing issues was more for the prepared foods. We could have a produce truck that could travel around a community with scheduled stops. This is one of the earlies concepts we discussed; where the product could be brought to the people. This is probably the least objectionable of any of the concepts. Commissioner Delgado discussed the food delivery services. He sees the potential for food trucks to highlight existing businesses and to draw people to an area. He gave Seabreeze as an example. Commissioner Gilliland asked if they couldn't just do that under a TPA. Mr. Morris stated there is an annual time limit...of how many days a TPA can have. Commissioner Gilliland stated yes, but we are talking about it periodically not every weekend. Mr. Morris stated they can only sell outside what they sell inside with a TPA. Commissioner Delgado stated this can give an opportunity to fans of a food truck, to come to another area and see what that area has to offer. Businesses could have extended hours. They might stay and wonder around the shops. Commissioner Gilliland stated you might still run into the question of competition. Commissioner Reed suggested that you make sure the trucks are diversified from what be available locally in that area. Commissioner White asked the food truck promoter listed in the backup. Amy Boyd, Development Services, stated he organizes these food truck events and he has his own sets of criteria and had criteria above what the State to participate in his events. He does all the work. Mr. Chisholm clarified that he is like a broker. Ms. Boyd stated yes. Commissioner White states he does a lot of the regulatory items. He does them monthly. She asked if they would have to change the Code to have a monthly food truck bazaar. 3

4 Mr. Chisholm stated it would be an event. We want to be able to market it. Commissioner White stated she believes she has been to his events before and that they are good events. David Waller, Deputy Public Works Director, stated he has attended this promoter's events before. They did an event every Thursday. The promoter regulated the diversity of the food offerings. Commissioner White suggested trying it as an event before they make changes to the Code. We maintain a level of control and test an area. This could activate an area that maybe doesn't have a lot of restaurants. We could always designate a food truck lot and we could say that on these nights we want food trucks. We could work under our current regulations and have someone that has a successful track record of putting on these events. Commissioner Trager asked if they were looking at making this a regular event as opposed to a onetime event. Mr. Chisholm stated initially they are suggesting that as a pilot program to see if it is successful. Commissioner Trager asked if it would be one location or multiple locations. Mr. Chisholm stated multiple locations. Commissioner Trager believes it would be good to vary the location around town. It provides a festival atmosphere. The questions would be where we would want to do it, and how often and if the City wants to operate it or have a promoter. We can try it without committing to changing the Code. Mr. Morris that is the object of this discussion today. He stated the easiest one to try would be the fresh food/farmers market type trucks. Commissioner Trager stated she has been in Midtown when they have had farmer's trucks there. There were many people there that wanted to purchase. A lot of people find it convenient because they have transportation issues. Commissioner Henry stated her concern with a promoter is that they bring in vendors from other areas. She would want to make sure that local vendors would participate. Mr. Chisholm stated you will find that most of them won't travel that far because it's additional expense to the vendor. That may be something we would have to address down the road if they decide to do this regularly. He suggests they bring in a promoter with experience to just test to see if it would work in our community. Commissioner Henry would like to ensure their constituents could participate. 4

5 Commissioner Delgado asked the number of concessions on the beach. Mr. Morris stated it was in the range of about 30 concessions. They have assigned places and products. Commissioner Delgado asked if any of that information would help them. Mr. Morris stated he did not believe so because the food truck issue is broader. Commissioner Delgado stated he too would like to see local vendors involved. He didn't know if local vendor would make an investment in a food truck if they don't know how long it is going to be allowed. Mr. Morris believes the approach that Commissioner White recommended would be good to try and he also believes the produce truck would be a good starting point. They are two different things and they would need to come up with different plans for both. Robert Jagger, City Attorney, stated what he understands they are saying is that they want set of regulations to deal with the produce type vendors and would allow them more liberally throughout the City. The event type food trucks you would want on City or County property and bring in a specialized promoter and have our own set of regulations to maintain quality. He sees two separate policies. Commissioner Delgado asked about the grocery/produce trucks that might also have cooked items. Mr. Jagger stated those are the types of issues they would have to decide; what they would allow. Commissioner Gilliland stated he would like to see the mobile grocery and they could serve those types of areas that are considered "food desert". Mayor Henry stated that those areas tend to not have many restaurants either so they would have to decide if they were going to allow them to serve prepared meals as well. Commissioner Trager brought up the grocery delivery services that the brick and mortar stores are offering now. Commission discussed other food delivery services. Commission Delgado presented some of his ideas on the grocery/meal truck concept. Mr. Morris stated you can have more than one type of food/meal truck at the same location, it wouldn't have to be a vendor offering both. You can have overlays. He thinks before that happens they need to tiptoe and out. 5

6 Commissioner Delgado asked if there was an area they can test these concepts out on. Mr. Jagger stated they could define the area and they would draft the regulations. Commissioner Delgado asked how the Commission should proceed. Mr. Chisholm stated staff would draft something and bring it back for their approval. We have places that we could try it. Commissioner Trager recommended Main Street. Commissioner White stated we are talking about two different things. One is a truck with a kitchen and one for local delivery without a kitchen. She asked if permitting already exists if a local vendor wanted to go to a location sell food. Mr. Morris stated we don't currently. Mr. Morris stated would do for special events. She is trying to avoid going through the process of amending the code before they know it will work or not. She is in favor of testing it out first. Mr. Morris stated they would contact the promoter. Commissioner White asked if Hardy Smith could talk to our lobbyist to let them know what is going on with SNAP/EBT. Mr. Chisholm stated staff will look at our current regulations and see what fits and then they will look at good locations and we will come back with a proposal. We will also get input from promoters. Commissioner Gilliland talked about the State requirements of food service and wasn't sure if food trucks have to follow them. Mr. Chisholm stated they do. Mr. Morris stated anything they would do would stipulate that they follow State and local regulations. Mr. Chisholm stated he was going to put together a concept and bring it back to them at a Commission Meeting. 6

7 ADJOURNMENT There being no further discussion or comments the meeting was adjourned at 5:33 p.m. DERRICK L. HENRY Mayor ATTEST: /f LETITIA LAMAGNA City Clerk Adopted: December 20, 2017 RECORD REQUIRED TO APPEAL: In accordance with Florida Statute if you should decide to appeal any decision the City Commission makes about any matter at this meeting, you will need a record of the proceedings. You are responsible for providing this record. You may hire a court reporter to make a verbatim transcript, or you may buy a CD of the meeting for $2.00 at the City Clerk's office. CDs are only made upon request. The City is not responsible for any mechanical failure of the recording equipment. 7