Planning Commission Minutes 2014 04 10

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April; 10, 2014 Page 21of 37 with the City Attorney, this seems possible and not in flagrant violation of anything we are aware of. We can change that in the future. Moline says he agrees with the consensus on the pre-packagedice cream. I agree to strike that from the language. Making an exception for one thing in an ordinance seems odd but he is totally on board with the intent or the end. What is the means to get there and the fairest to everyone involved. I look to Staff with help with that. Russell says that food vendors are consummate capitalists and go where there is business. We can apply the lowest possible regulatory regime and the market will determine what is of community value and what isn’t. We can be a little looser in our management of this. I don’t have a specific solution to theArt Center and Memory Square. I think the Art Center in the middle of Memory Square is a unique community asset and we should treat it as such. Why limit the patronage of a food cart that shows up at a sanctioned event at the Art Center to only people at the event?If someone from the neighborhood wants to walk up and buy a gyro, why not? I do not think it will create great community harm. Why oneor two? Why not how many are going to show up and do business. I think this is self regulating in the community. I am in favor of the buffer and would go shorter than that, but will not argue it. Rice says the overall philosophy of the ordinance is to create a standing set of rules that apply to everybody. There should be built-in means for special review to take a look at things that warrant special exception. Building in exceptions takes away from the spirit ofthe law. I am sensitive to regulating business use and commerce in residential neighborhoods. This is a significant issue. We should be carefully thinking about regulating the Art Center. If a single food truck pulls into the CTC, it is different than five trucks pulling into Memory Square. I am not in favor of built-in exceptions in ordinances. Rice says in regard to the buffer issue, it is one thing to talk about the numbers in the abstract and another to put it on the map. Outside of the industrial areas, I don’t know if there are viable places in the City on the public ROW to operate a food truck. If we want to invite this type of commerce into the City, we seem to be creating buffer zones that disallow it. The one block rule makes sense but seeing it on a map, it eliminates any place where you might want to do this. O’Connell says drafting an ordinance building in exceptions and nuancesis up to the attorneys to be drafted so the City is not exposed to liability. She says the rules should be in place. On the pre-packagedissue, I am strongly in favor of keeping the pre- packagedlanguage. My reasoning is that non-ice cream shops may begin to use it as a method of advertising, getting their own carts, and going into neighborhoods. There is only one business currently with a truck but other restaurants might have the ability to drive their trucks around neighborhoods to advertise.I don’t want to see this coming into the residential areas. Keep it to the traditional uses of what we have allowed with pre-packageditems. Russell asks what is to prevent any establishment from getting pre-packagedice cream. O’Connell says it doesn’t, and any restaurant could start prepackagingice cream sandwiches or milk products. We may need to work on further definition to encompass what is seen going through the neighborhoods rather than leaving it broad.