By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has passed an ordinance on final reading that will establish regulations for mobile food vendors to operate within the city.
Board members took the action during their Jan. 10 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Al Bell and seconded by Alderman Jon Crisp.
The motion was passed by six affirmative votes, with Alderman Thomas McGhee absent.
The ordinance was passed on first reading at the board’s Dec. 13, 2021 meeting.
It will amend Title 9 of the Municipal Code, which does not currently include rules specifically related to food vendors in trucks and vans.
Charles Goforth, planning consultant for the city, proposed the ordinance during the board’s Work Session on Nov. 15, 2021.
He has said the ordinance will remove the requirement for a business license, but mobile food vendors will have to obtain a permit from the city. It will be valid for no more than three days and for “special events” only.
The ordinance will include schools as public locations where special events can occur.
Goforth said citywide and other publicly sponsored festivals and events, such as Goat Days, the Flag City Freedom Celebration, the Mid-South Airshow and other events authorized by the board, will be exempt from the ordinance, because they are “generally handled by a central vendor set.”
Mobile food vendors will be prohibited from conducting business on private property unless it is a city-permitted special event.
Owners of properties zoned B-2, General Commercial, and P-C, Planned Commercial, churches and other non-profit organizations will be allowed to request city approval for a special event twice each calendar year.
The event cannot last for more than three days, and no more than three mobile food vendors will be permitted.
All requests for mobile food vendor permits on private property, churches and non-profit organizations will have to be accompanied by a request for special-event approval signed by the property owner.
No activities will be allowed within 100 feet of any residential property.
Each applicant for a mobile food vendor permit will have to submit, along with the permit application, written consent by the property owner for the applicant to use the owner’s private property for the purpose stated in the application.
The applicant will also have to submit a $25 non-refundable administrative fee. The permit fee will be $250, which must be paid prior to the first day of engaging in business.
Goforth has said these were the changes that the planning staff made in the ordinance, based on the board’s “direction” at the Work Session.
He said the ordinance will become effective on March 15, before “a lot of the spring festivals” occur.
“That’ll give us time to get all the paperwork and everything set up on it,” he acknowledged.
During discussion shortly before the vote, Alderman Bethany Huffman asked how the local businesses will be informed of the new rules.
Instead of having to enforce the ordinance, she wondered if an “informational meeting” could be conducted.
Goforth said the city will try to work with the Millington Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ve got a list of what the rules are,” he concluded. “We’ll make it available to everybody and certainly put it on the Web page.”
