Food trucks — a growing and popular phenomenon in many areas of the country — are about to get the Peachtree City treatment.
Thursday night the Peachtree City Council will discuss proposed regulations to allow food trucks to operate in the city. The rules were recently approved on a 4-1 vote of the planning commission with a recommendation that the trucks be limited to existing city restaurants.
Such a regulation might defeat the purpose of the food truck initiative as they are a nationwide trend as a way to offer food in a given area that may not currently be offered by traditional restaurants.
The proposed rules would allow property owners to seek a permit for a food truck location where they will be open no more than two days a week for up to six hours each day.
The proposed rules would require all food trucks to obtain an annual vendor permit from the city, and they would be limited to selling from certain city-approved sites and also at city-sponsored events.
Each food truck will be required to provide proof of a $1 million liability insurance policy that protects the vendor the public and the city from damage, property and injury claims.
City staff have proposed to limit mobile food trucks to properties that are zoned general commercial, office institutional, light industrial and general industrial.
Property owners must also file an application to provide a mobile food truck vendor site which includes restrictions on access, proximity to fire hydrants and the distance from the nearby road.
The ordinance also forbids mobile food trucks from using flashing or blinking lights and requires all signs to be permanently affixed to the food truck except for a portable menu board, which cannot be located between the truck and the adjacent road.
The food trucks will also be required to provide at least one trash container for public use and they must serve their food on single-serve items such as plastic utensils and paper plates. The trucks must also use only self-contained power and also use a reverse gear signal alarm for the protection of anyone nearby when it is going backwards.
A proposal to allow craft beer tastings at a growler store also will be vetted Thursday night by the council.
The ordinance will be similar to the wine tasting regulations passed recently and will spell out the size and quantity of samples that will be allowed per person on any given day.
The final document proposed by staff was not available at press time.
The proposal will be discussed by council at its meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Another item for council discussion is the possibility of allowing a hair salon to be an allowed use on a parcel zoned for light industrial use. A business owner is making that request to redevelop the vacant My Gym property on Clover Reach near The Avenue shopping center.
