The Bloomington City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that would require food trucks and other mobile food vendors to stay 50 feet away from brick-and-mortar establishments. The ordinance would also place noise restrictions on the trucks' generators.
Council members say the new rules will act as a benchmark for future mobile vendor regulations, including the possible establishment of so-called "food pods," or designated areas off the street where food trucks and push carts are allowed to congregate.
Council member Darryl Neher says even if the current ordinance isn't perfect, the city needed a baseline law to work with, as the previous city code was vague about rules for mobile food vendors.
"It's important we clarify many of those gray areas and that's what we did last night, there are changes that we acknowledge need to take place, and as we see this ordinance play out we'll adjust accordingly."
Council President Dave Rollo says it's definitely a compromise.
"Someone said last night ‘No one's happy,'" he says. "Because the restaurants probably wanted larger exclusion areas… and the food trucks, of course, would like the landscape as it is. They're operating within something they know very well and they would like to remain in the areas they frequent now."
The 50-foot exclusionary rule is mainly to prevent direct competition between the food trucks and establishments that offer similar cuisine.
"Clearly a food truck…is not going to be competing with restaurant Tallent, but it's going to be competing with [downtown restaurant] Butch's, because it has a very similar product," Rollo says. "It really does change the competitive landscape."
The ordinance will not be effective until Mayor Kruzan signs it into law.