The fee and location changes up for council consideration a week ago were reasonable and the council made the right decision to approve them. The Planning Commission and council’s land use committee had previously signed off on the ordinance alterations that would:
• Change mobile vendor permits from 90 days to one year. As noted in a city staff report, this makes the city’s permit duration consistent with Thurston County Health requirements for food vendors. The county issues one-year permits, contingent on the applicant having a determined location within 200 feet of a supporting restroom.
• Reduce the annual permit fee from $720 to $180.
• Override the requirement that food carts change to a new location after 180 days. The moving requirement has left customers confused about the location of a favorite stand.
• Require vendors to get approval from the property owner, or underlying property owner, if the food cart is going to be located in a right of way. City officials say the intent of this new requirement is to ensure the rights of property owners and reduce potential for property disputes.
• Require a 6-foot clear walking area around a vendor if located in the downtown “pedestrian walking lane” area.
• Allow code enforcement officers to issue tickets when a temporary use business is not compliant with conditions set out in the city’s permit to the vendor.
The changes go into effect this week.
Kenny Trobman, owner of the Gyro Spot, deserves credit for bringing this issue to the council’s attention. He said fees and the requirement to move every 180 days, were discouraging more vendors from setting up shop.
Some communities – Portland, for example – have embraced the mobile food carts. Portland has hundreds of carts scattered around town due, in part, to friendly regulations. Tacoma has approved new regulations, and Seattle has considered amending its rules.
There are 26 mobile food carts licensed in all of Thurston County, in addition to 18 push carts that serve everything from hot dogs to shaved ice. While the county has 663 restaurants, there are about 1,000 permitted food establishments, which can include everything from restaurants to food carts to stores that serve jo-jos and chicken wings.
Olympia has the start of what could be a food cart concentration at Fourth Avenue and Plum Street, which already hosts Ricardo’s Wood Fired Express (wood-fired pizzas and sandwiches) and a California Tacos food truck. The area is about to expand to perhaps two more food carts, according to Cyndi Dickson, owner of the Filling Station Espresso next door, who rents space to the food carts.
In addition to a permit from the city, food carts also require approval from the Thurston County Health Department.
Sammy Berg, senior environmental health specialist is the person who supervises the food program for the Thurston County Health Department. He said mobile vendors are subject to the same health and safety regulations as full-fledged restaurants. And it’s his experience that mobile food vendors and restaurants are equal in the number of health violations. “We don’t see that they have more problems than other restaurants,” Berg said.
In fact, he said, mobile carts are under more scrutiny than restaurants.
“At a restaurant, a waitress comes out with a steaming plate of food, but you didn’t see the hands that prepared that food,” Berg said. At mobile carts, customers look directly into the kitchen and watch the person preparing their meal.
They can see whether the cook is wearing a hair net, washing his or her hands and wearing gloves. Customers can see if the food preparation area is clean and tidy or greasy and messy. At a sit-down restaurant, customers have no idea of the food handling practices going on in the kitchen.
Mobile food carts provide customers with an option for a quick lunch or bite to eat. By adopting the ordinance, the members of the Olympia City Council have reduced the onerous fees and land use restrictions that have limited the number of food cart vendors in the capital city.
