Chapel Hill poised to allow food trucks

CHAPEL HILL -- Food trucks may soon be officially allowed on Chapel Hill streets.

The town is creating rules to regulate where and how food trucks can operate.

About 20 vendors attended a meeting Monday to ask questions and offer suggestions. The draft rules are partly based on Carrboro's regulations, town planner Kendall Brown said. Carr boro and Durham allow food trucks; Raleigh is deciding how to regulate them.

Chapel Hill began discussing food-truck rules last year after Lex Alexander, owner of 3Cups wine, tea and coffee shop on Elliott Road, asked the Town Council to allow the trucks in the town.

The current draft of the rules would define a food truck as a "readily moveable motorized wheeled vehicle ... designed and equipped to serve food." The rules would limit food trucks to selling on paved, privately owned parking lots already serving restaurants or bars and having at least 10 parking spots.

Trucks would be limited to one per acre, or per 100 parking spaces, with no more than two food trucks on one lot. The trucks would be prohibited from operating while any restaurants served by the lot are open.

Some vendors questioned the space restrictions, noting that they would prohibit food truck "rodeos" that have been popular in Durham and elsewhere.

Food trucks that sell in Chapel Hill would be required to pay a prepared food tax to Orange County. Enforcing such laws can be difficult, Brown said.

Making sure taxes from the food trucks in Chapel Hill stay in Orange County is a critical issue, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said.

Food trucks offer more opportunities to buy locally, but only if the taxes come back to the local government, added Mayor Pro Tempore Jim Ward.

"I personally feel like (we'd) want some assurance that that's going to happen, otherwise we lose some incentive," he said.

Chris Derby is working on opening a food truck in Chapel Hill and says it's important for the trucks to demonstrate to the brick-and-mortar restaurants that they're willing to contribute.

"I really think there's great opportunity for the beginning of the food truck phenomenon in this area," he said. "It's a great opportunity for everybody."

The draft rules prohibit motorized trailers or pushcarts, but Ward and several vendors suggested the rules be expanded to include them.

The food trucks would undergo inspections by the county health department.

"They're tough; they spend a lot of time in my truck they use thermometers," said Jody Argote, who owns Parlez-Vous Crepes food truck. "I get a grade just like a restaurant does."

Currently, mobile food units fall under multiple authorities in Chapel Hill. The Town Code regulates the sales of outdoor food. The Parks and Recreation Department regulates food trucks if they're for a special event. The Land Use Management Ordinance regulates where truck operators can park and requires a fence or screen in front of the truck.