Lifelong cowboy-turned-restaurateur on wheels, Darcy Scott, is a little gun shy over what may come out of the town’s upcoming mobile food vendor bylaw.
“I’ve spent my entire life in this town – this is for the town,” said the owner/operator of Grilled, which features a menu of gourmet grilled cheese offerings.
On Monday evening, council set a public hearing date for the mobile food vendor bylaw on April 24, when council will be provided an opportunity to hear from members of the public and stakeholders such as Scott before voting on the matter.
Last summer, Scott and Brian Gebbie, owner of Awko Taco food truck, took part in a pilot project that turned into a kerfuffle.
With the absence of a bylaw to govern food truck operations in Cochrane, Scott and Gebbie were pulled off the streets mid-summer following a “number of complaints from local business owners” and then allowed back following an impromptu August council meeting.
The proposed bylaw was partly based on public consultations, which showed overwhelming support for the idea. More than 75 per cent of the 315 respondents who took part in an online town survey said they “loved” food trucks and less than one per cent “hated” them.
Administration is not recommending designated parking sites, rather enforcement through setbacks that include 150 metres from special events (unless written permission is granted by the event organizer); 100 metres from school sites; 25 metres from restaurants or food service vendors; and 10 metres from a crosswalk.
Scott is concerned the operations aspect will be hindered by layers of added, unnecessary bureaucracy – such as informing the town when his truck will be at special events, and the additional fee of $200 for a mobile food vendor permit – on top of the annual fire inspection ($55), town licence ($160) and development permit ($250).
“It costs (roughly) $800 to get an out-of-town licence to do this in Calgary where there’s 1.2 million people … it’s more than $600 for Cochrane.”
Coun. Morgan Nagel echoed these concerns.
“I feel like the whole process is getting bogged down by red tape … I’m not convinced all these regulations are going to help anything,” he said.
Scott is also concerned that the town is putting the brakes on the proposed designated parking for food trucks.
Mayor Ivan Brooker said given the town’s current parking issues, he does not think it is feasible to reserve valuable parking spaces for a weather-dependant operator.
Scott said there is value in building a hospitable climate for food vendors. He suggested creating alternating designated parking spots for one- to two-hour blocks in the morning to secure the specific parking placements – such as spots along First Street West that meet setback requirements.
Through the pilot period, food trucks were not allowed to park on First Street West.
According to town planner Kemi Apanisile, he is confident this bylaw will help and not hinder operators adding allowing vendors to dole out street food downtown will be a big plus for vendors like Scott.
Apanisile said vendors will be allowed to park on private property with the permission of the landlord and sees these types of scenarios as a “win-win.”
Fast forward to now and Scott is ready to cast the winter chill off his Grilled truck and hit the Cochrane streets by the end of the month.
It looks like he will be the only full-time food truck vendor – at least for now.
Gebbie, who was out of town this week, advised the Eagle that he “will be scaling back this year with the truck” and will only be serving up his popular Mexican-inspired grub at “spot events.”
Angela Admussen, who launched Morning Bird Catering Inc. as a travelling lunch truck late last summer, said she will not be putting her unit on the Cochrane roadways this year and has “moved onto other things.”
Scott is looking to meet with councillors prior to the public hearing and is hopeful that the town will continue to work with him on what he has devoted much of his personal time to – in order to create a vision of a food-truck- friendly Cochrane that helps foster the Historic Downtown.
Part and parcel to the food truck bylaw, administration is also looking to update the operation base bylaw with the addition that commercial vehicles in excess of 4,500 kg (such as food trucks) cannot be parked overnight in front of residences.
As with the pilot project, food trucks can temporarily park in front of their residences for daily restocking and prepping.
