ANC: Keep Food Trucks Off Residential Streets

While brick and mortar restaurants hash out their concerns with food trucks, the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission's main worry is keeping the mobile eateries off residential streets.

At a meeting Monday, Georgetown heard from a representative of traditional restaurants and the head of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) on what the mean for Georgetown and D.C.

The proposed DCRA regulations aim to address several issues with the 30-year-old regulations that have come to light during the recent renaissance in food trucks.

Andrew Kline, representing the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), told the Georgetown ANC that traditional restaurants are opposed to the new regulations for mobile vending as proposed by DCRA.

"We took a year, we drafted regulations that we thought struck a balance between the brick and mortar stores, who obviously have a right to survive, ... and the mobile vending trucks, who also have a right to operate their businesses," explained DCRA Director Nicholas Majett. "We're not going to please everybody."

RAMW would prefer that DCRA require that vending permits be issued for a specific site, rather allowing food truck to park in any legal parking spot. "It’s about management of public space," said Kline, not a battle between old and new.

Commissioner Bill Starrels weighed in on the regulations, asking Majett if there is a way to keep the trucks out of residential areas. "If you are permitting them to use a legal parking space, no RPP space should be used," said Starrels.
Majett told commissioners that the regs could be amended if issues arise. "We'll be monitoring the progress of these food trucks to make sure it's not a bad effect," he explained.

The proposed regulations are published in the D.C. Register and will be open for a 30-day public-comment period through Feb. 20. The final regulations will require approval by the D.C. Council.