The Municipal Services Committee met 03/25/2024. The first action item on the agenda was the proposed modification to the Central Business District Street Vendors Ordinance which, if passed, would have required food trucks in downtown Appleton to close down at midnight.
City staff ended up requesting to withdraw the proposed ordinance changes and indicated that they were going to focus on other measures to improve safety and control crowds along College Avenue, but they did reserve the right to bring forward similar ordinance changes in the future should they believe it would be warranted.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
The proposed changes received pushback from community members and during the 03/11/2024 meeting, committee members expressed hesitancy to approve the requested changes.
On 03/25/2024, Director of Public Works Danielle Block told the committee that staff had reanalyzed the existing ordinance pertaining to street vendors and now planned to enforce the existing ordinance and the parking restrictions contained therein. The existing ordinance allows parking only on College Avenue after 9PM and not on side streets. There are also rules restricting how close a food truck can park next to establishments selling similar products or a sidewalk café or brick and mortar establishment with a Street Occupancy Permit when tables and chairs are present on the amenity strip. Staff intended to enforce these rules more rigorously.
Additionally, the lighting enhancements planned for College Avenue were expected to improve the situation. Finally, staff intended to provide further education to licensees when they took out their licensed. As a result, staff was comfortable asking for the proposed ordinance to be withdrawn, but they did indicate that they would not hesitate to bring future recommendations forward if they felt they were warranted.
The committee members did not object to the withdrawal.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1187534&GUID=FD292762-C866-4CB5-8B24-327794E7F353
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