First reading to rules covering mobile food vehicles

Walhalla Councilman Robbie Burrell is a partner in area Subway restaurants, but he considers the move to the downtown of an independent restaurant a good thing for all who are in the business of feeding the public. Burrell and his colleagues last night gave the first of two readings to a set of rules that will govern the Oconee Station food truck on Main Street, as well as other mobile food vehicles that seek to do business within the corporate limits. The annual permit fee is proposed at $250 dollars; temporary permit would cost $50 dollars. The city council gave particular attention last night to a section of the proposed regulations that subject food vendors to the following requirements: “No mobile food vendor shall operate within 250 feet from the door of a lawfully established eating establishment that is actively open for business serving customers, unless the food truck vendor provides documentation, which is signed by the restaurant owner(s), that the restaurant owner imposes no objection to a closer proximity. If a restaurant opens with the 250-foot zone after the mobile vendor has their annual decal, the food truck vendor may remain in that location until the following annual permit is due at which time, they would have to obtain written permission from the new restaurant owner.”