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Lee's Summit Mobile vendors continue to fight for trucks
Jan. 21, 2012
By Shelly Crenshaw Donovan
Lee’s Summit Tribune
The Lee’s Summit Community Development Committee met Wednesday to discuss important issues such as solicitation ordinances, solar panel regulations, metal recyclers and the unresolved issues between mobile food vendors and downtown Lee’s Summit businesses.
The committee, which consists of council members Bob Johnson, Kathy Hofmann, Allan S. Gray II and Dave Mosby, heard concerns and had many questions for mobile truck vendors. The debate is still a complex one, with the city of Lee’s Summit trying to encourage entrepreneurs while supporting current business owners.
Bob McKay, the Director of Planning and Development presented information about neighboring cities and how they are handling mobile food vendors in their area. The concept of a restaurant on wheels is a new one for the city of Lee’s Summit with many questions about rules and regulations to govern the food trucks.
McKay gave several examples, including Liberty, Olathe and Platte County, who do not allow vendors to operate within the city.
Hofmann noted that the city of Liberty, “because of their active historic district, received resistance from their downtown merchants. That is the reason they turned it down.”
Kansas City has many regulations in place, such as requiring the trucks return to a commissary after each outing for cleaning and restocking. Springfield has set an ordinance and does not allow vendors within 300 feet of a business selling a similar product. Overland Park calls these vendors “transient merchants,” and they are prohibited in the downtown area and are not allowed after dark. Overland Park does not allow these transient merchants to operate in Corporate Woods Business Park and other specific areas.
Anthony Olson, owner of downtown Lee’s Summit’s Neighborhood Café, was at the meeting on behalf of his Rolling Café mobile restaurant.
“We don’t want to burden current businesses, and we don’t want to make it hard to compete,” Olson said.
“We are considering downtown now, but our intentions would be to go to other parts of the city. I’ll use as an example the space center; the caves up there don’t have cafeterias for their employees. We’ve talked to them and they have given us permission to operate outside of their location. I ask that you consider areas outside of downtown when you make your final decision.”
Michelle Franke spoke on behalf of her business, Little Italy, and the foodservice she provides.
“I know it’s really new to Lee’s Summit, but that’s not to say that we should not do it and I know that this is one of the options,” she said. “I ask you to take a different perspective of it, that it’s a new that’s an upcoming thing.”
Tammy Tyner, owner of the Downtown Deli, doesn’t want the vendors outside her restaurant.
“I do agree that there is a need to bring these trucks to the industrial parks, which wouldn’t clutter Third Street,” she said.
Lee’s Summit wants to set clear parameters for these mobile food vendors others that may apply to operate within the city while still encouraging small business growth and development. After all sides were heard and the discussion was complete, it was clear that there were still more questions than answers. Mosby suggested setting up a task force of business people and mobile food vendors to get together to discuss the issue further. The committee agreed and asked McKay to take 30 days to meet with more citizens and downtown business owners in order to get further input from all sides.
“If we are going to put a committee together we need to include more downtown merchants,” Hofmann said. “There are only two merchants on the Downtown Main Street Committee, and I have heard resistance from the downtown merchants.”
McKay assured that he would work with staff to see that the downtown merchants were represented and their concerns heard before final recommendations would be made to the council. March 31 is the date that the council has set aside to make their final decision on the mobile vendors.
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