Bend Council Tables Disputed Food Cart Rules

After testimony from several food cart owners and plenty of their own discussion, the Bend City council voted Wednesday night to proceed with changes to “temporary use” rules, but to table the section governing food carts, pending more talks with those who’d be affected.

On a 6-1 vote with Councilor Mark Capell opposed, councilors approved the new rules with one change, to allowing 180 days a year of operation for produce sales (the original proposal set a seasonal 4 1/2 month period). The council agreed with city planners to hold off on the food cart portion of the rules until more discussion with the cart owners.

Much of the council discussion turned not just on food carts but farm and produce stands, and the always-tricky issue of when a temporary use becomes permanent. There also was a general reluctance to regulate based on taste or aesthetics, always a troubling issue for government, since taste is in the eye of the beholder.

“I don’t think any of us don’t like food carts,” Capell said. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t all eat at them. I didn’t get this fat on my own.”

Many food cart owners who came to City Hall to weigh in said they felt they were never a part of the conversation when discussion first began months ago.

“That’s where a lot of us feel frustration,” said Joel Comstock, owner of Cascadia Kitchen. “We weren’t really invited in the beginning of the talks.”

In February, the city planning commission unanimously sent the package of new rules to the council.

They proposed, for example, that the property a food cart sits on must have paved parking spots and landscaping. It also proposed that carts cannot take up parking spaces or block a drivers view of an intersection.

“If I have to start putting up trees and paving lots and putting in bike racks, I’m going to go belly up before I get started,” Holly Wieg, who has proposed to open a juice and smoothie trailer, told the council Wednesday night.

“We’re one of the only carts that’s on an undeveloped lot,” said Chris Lohrey, the owner of Spork. “So the rules would actually make us pave it and do a full site plan, and just no way does that work.” (Such plans can cost $5,000 or more for just the city fees.)

One cart owner told NewsChannel 21 they wish the city would model its regulations after the state. Oregon breaks down food carts into four categories, depending on their size and how the food is prepared, and adjusts the rules to fit.

There also is talk now among local vendors of starting start an association, in hopes of working better with the city in the future.

Earlier in the day, the mobile foodies said they’re happy with the move to table the rules pending more talks, but several said they know they’ll inevitably have to follow whatever rules the city decides to serve up.

“We’re not anti-regulation or anything like that. We just want to make sure it’s done in a way that small businesses that are just starting up in kind of a tough time allow them a chance to succeed,” said Jay Miller, who co-owns Real Food Street Bistro in Bend.

And possibly grow into a food cart scene like Portland’s. That’s where we found the Brunchbox, an award-winning food cart on Portland’s Fifth Avenue, serving up mouth-watering brunch basics, with a twist — like grilled cheese with an egg. That runs about $3.

The owner told NewsChannel 21’s Mckenzie Wilson that the rules proposed in Bend are already common practice in Portland, and nobody there seems to mind.

“The rules are so loose here — it’s such a local, business-friendly environment that they’ve just been able to flourish,” said Derek Coughlin, owner of the Brunchbox.

The man behind the Food Carts Portland Website said his advice for Bend food cart owners is to be thankful they’ve gone this long without stricter regulation.

“We have to start playing by somebody else’s rules at a certain point, and that’s tough for a lot of entrepreneurs,” said Brett Burmeister.

It’s especially tough when those rules could be bad for business.

One of the main concerns for food cart owners about the new rules is if their cost of doing business goes up, so too will the prices on the menu.

On other issues Wednesday night, city councilors:

–Proceeded unanimously with a move to ban smoking in the city’s downtown parking structure.

–Unanimously agreed to send a message that the city is supportive of a four-year university in Bend.