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Food trucks spark controversy in Bellefonte Borough

BELLEFONTE -- With most carnivals, fairs and festivals canceled for the summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those who own and operate food trucks have been forced to get creative to bring in revenue. As a result, since the "stay at home" order has been in effect, the trucks have been popping up all over Centre County -- mostly on weekends.

And the trucks have ignited a bit of controversy.

At this week's Bellefonte Borough Council meeting, which was held via Zoom, borough manager Ralph Stewart said that he received an email from a local establishment concerned about the "abundance of food trucks and mobile vendors on public streets." Stewart said that the business owner wanted council to consider an ordinance that would prohibit food trucks on public streets.

The borough already has guidelines for mobile food vendors. Chapter 364 of Bellefonte Borough Code is a six-page document that outlines rules and regulations for food trucks.

"The request is to not have the food trucks on borough streets or borough properties, like parks and that sort of thing," said Bellefonte Mayor Tom Wilson.

Wilson said that the business owner was not requesting that trucks be removed from private property or areas like Bellefonte Area High School, where a pair of food trucks -- BBQ by Clem and Rosie's Pierogies -- have set up shop the past several weekends.

"I don't want to ban food trucks from the entire borough and I don't think we can, just to be clear," Wilson said.

Stewart pointed out that the current borough ordinance states that a food truck cannot park within 150 feet of a brick and mortar restaurant.

"I saw some violations of that over the weekend," he said. "Clearly within less feet to a nearby restaurant. When we created the ordinance, we did not provide or put in a local permit requirement, only state permits. We don't exactly know when they're going to show up or when they're going to leave."

Stewart said the violation that he saw was at the intersection near Talleyrand Park.

Council member Melissa Hombosky pointed out that some of the food truck owners reside in the borough.

"The owners of Brazilian Munchies live in my ward, they live about a block from me. I can't support anything that denies them. When they're property owners and they pay local tax, I feel like they should have the right to take advantage of public streets as long as they're within the ordinance," Hombosky said.

Hombosky said that many of the food trucks also support Downtown Bellefonte, Inc.

"All of the food trucks that have supported DBI are Bellefonte area food trucks and they are great boosters of our downtown fundraising initiatives. I understand the need to not compete … but I feel like the ordinance stands on its own," she said.

Wilson said that he's trying to appease owners of brick and mortar businesses as well those who run food trucks.

"I'm looking for a solution that will be a compromise that will appease both food trucks and the borough's storefront restaurants," he said.

Stewart said that he would like to do a measurement of how far the food trucks stationed at Talleyrand Park are from brick and mortar restaurants to see if they are complying with the ordinance.

Council member Doug Johnson said that the COVID-19 pandemic is no reason to start tweaking the borough's ordinance.

"This is getting too sticky. We hope that COVID-19 is a one-time thing and sometime in 2021 we'll get back to normal procedures. We haven't had trouble with brick and mortar restaurants and food trucks in the past. Let's not put rules and regulations in place that take up our time when there are other important issues. If they follow the guidelines, we'll be OK," Johnson said.

Council member Randy Brachbill said that council owes it to the brick and mortar restaurants to enforce the borough ordinance and make certain that the food trucks are complying with the code.

"I'm not saying that we have to ban them from the streets, but I really feel that we owe something to the downtown restaurants who have come out and have found ways to keep their stores open and provide meals to residents of Bellefonte. Otherwise, they could be closed too long and you might not have that restaurant back," Brachbill said.

In the end, council voted down any change to the ordinance, so your favorite food truck is safe.