It turns out council cannot implement a 60 metre restriction for mobile restaurants on Main Street in their business licence bylaw.
If they do, the town could not enforce it, Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Sargent said, who then recommended that staff proceed with an unaltered business licence bylaw and refer to staff instructions to alter the zoning bylaw instead.
That, Sargent said, would make the 60 metre restriction from other, fixed location restaurants enforceable to Town staff.
Council had decided earlier that, when it comes to Main Street, the 60 metre restriction from an existing food vendor was desirable, effectively banning mobile restaurants from operating on Main Street.
They also decided to limit operation to no more than two days in one location; that change moved forward in the business licence bylaw.
“Changing it to 60 metres is a change that can be made through a zoning bylaw, so we have to change the zoning bylaw in order to make that regulation stick,” Deputy Mayor Jo Ann Groves said.
Bugwood Bean owner and proprietor Mika Meyer wasn’t pleased when council originally made the decision to impose a 60 metre restriction, up from a 30 metre one.
Until the bylaw that imposes the 60 metre restriction is adopted, her business is able to operate and has been seen on Main Street in recent days, but the zoning bylaw may impact her business further yet: council has said it’s considering C1, C1a and C3 zones.
If those three zones were chosen, operations at the Civic Arena and Walnut Park would be affected as KFC, Dairy Queen and A&W are nearby.
Or, staff could recommend that they use a blanket restriction in the zoning bylaw, affecting all areas. It really depends on what staff comes back with, what council finalizes, and what input they receive from the public, Groves said. A public hearing is required when it comes to changing the zoning bylaw, whereas it is not when it comes to a business rate bylaw.
“Administration will come back to us with their advice on how we should approach it,” Groves said.
Recommendations are expected at the May 9 meeting of council.
At the end of last week’s meeting, Meyer again referenced Vancouver, where mobile restaurants are limited in some cases to 60 metres from established businesses who offer products of a similar product or concept. She encouraged council to consider something along those same lines, that would allow her to operate on Main Street, but not threaten a traditional restaurant by selling the same type of food.
This, again, was referred to staff for consideration.
“I’m looking forward to that discussion in great length and hopefully we can come up with something that’s going to work for the mobile vendor and the merchants on Main Street,” Groves said. “It’s a difficult situation … I do understand it’s nice to have mobile restaurants but I also understand that it’s the taxpayers along Main Street that have paid for the sidewalk, paid for the pavement … that’s why we have a vibrant Main Street.”