Casper City Council voted to set aside the second reading of a proposed ordinance to regulate mobile vendors downtown, during a regular council session on Tuesday. Putting off a decision on the second reading until mid-May.
The issue of mobile vendors has been on the city council’s plate for approximately three months, and has been a social media controversy for several months beyond that.
The use of mobile vendors, specifically a variety of food trucks, by a downtown Casper brewery drew harsh criticism from downtown restaurant owners. The criticism, in turn, drew controversial discussion on social media.
The controversy has culminated in a proposed city ordinance that would put limitations on the ability for mobile vendors to park downtown, through the use of city dispersed permits.
A first reading of the proposed ordinance on April 3rd, was met with several amendments from council. The amendments included expanded available operational hours, increased number of available permits, and a focus on the area of affect to a few specific blocks of downtown.
Under the amended ordinance, the only affected area would be on 2nd Street between David and Durbin Streets.
However, the second reading was ultimately tabled, after some members of Casper City Council offered several more amendments, leading other council members to say that the process was becoming confusing.
Citizens wishing to speak to council about the ordinance, during the April 17th regular meeting, had to sign up by noon on Monday in order to be heard. Five speakers were originally on the agenda, however two were no-shows.
The other three commenters, two downtown business owners and a Casper citizen, did speak to council, blasting the April 3rd amendments.
The downtown business owners said that agreements had been reached between the downtown business interests and the mobile vendor interests, which more closely resembled the ordinance originally put before council on April 3rd.
A point of contention was the expansion of the allowable hours, that a mobile vendor would be able to set up shop. Under the April 3rd language, mobile vendors would only be able to set up and begin selling after 6:00 pm. The amended ordinance, currently before council, expanded those hours from 3:00 pm until 3:00 am the following day. Further the April 17th language would also allow mobile vendors to set up in public parking spaces all day on Saturday and Sunday.
One downtown business owner painted a picture of businesses struggling to compete with a downtown mobile vendor presence, leading to the ultimate closure of some downtown businesses, the speaker saying that he didn’t want the downtown storefronts to suffer from a high rate of vacancy. The speaker went on to say that he had discussed the issue with businesses that had food trucks operating in front of them, and saw a decline in business on those days.
Another downtown business owner said that expanding the allowable number of permits in a calendar month from eight to ten was fine, but also spoke in opposition to mobile vendors keeping hours, downtown, before 6:00 pm on any day.
During the general public comment period toward the end of the council meeting, another Casper business owner addressed council and identified himself as the owner of a brick and mortar restaurant in Sunrise Shopping Center, and also said he had a satellite food truck. The speaker said that two recent food truck events held at the shopping center had been successful, and that his restaurant had shown an increase in business.
“We have to do our job where we’re not confused,” said Casper City Councilperson Dallas Laird, before voicing support for tabling the matter for another day.
The council also expressed a destire to consider a downtown parking study, which is currently underway. The results are due to be given to council during early May.
Some council members spoke out against tabling the issue however, citing that warm weather would bring interest to mobile vendors operating downtown, and that the season was quickly approaching.
Shawn Houck, a co-owner of the Frontier Brewery and Taproom spoke to council during general comment as well, saying that he was hoping for a speedier decision. Houck saying that his brewery wanted to operate during downtown events like Third Thursday and Art Walk, and has been unable to this season, due to temporary rules on mobile vendors currently in place.
At this time a stop-gap measure, that Houck called “arbitrary,” only allows businesses in the affected area to operate after 6:00 pm, Fridays and Saturdays. Art Walk and Third Thursdays are scheduled for mid-week.
The city council passed the motion to table the second reading of the ordinance in a 6-2 vote. Council members Jesse Morgan and Mike Huber casting the only “nay” votes. Councilperson Charlie Powell was excused from the April 17th meeting.
The council is currently set to discuss the issue at a future work session, and hold a second reading for the ordinance at a May 15th regular meeting.
The current stop-gap measure, allowing mobile vendors only after 6:00 pm on Friday and Saturday will remain in place.
Editors Note: Oil City‘s publisher Shawn Houck is a co-owner of Frontier Brewing Company and Taproom, who utilize mobile vendors in the serpentine area of downtown. Houck had no editorial input into this story.
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