This post was written by Hatchet reporter Colleen Murphy.
The latest proposal in a string of possible D.C. food truck regulations threatens to cut down on the number of vendors that dot the Foggy Bottom Campus.
The city would hold a monthly lottery to allow vendors to park in certain areas – including a spot along H street from 20th to 22nd streets – to improve congestion on tight streets and preclude battles for coveted parking spots.
The city has not decided how many trucks would be allowed to park in each zone, but the proposed regulations require at least three, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Vendors could buy into the lottery for $25 and would pay $150 per vehicle each month to park in the marked-off areas.
Trucks that are not chosen in the lottery would have to park at least 500 feet away from the designated zones and only along sidewalks with at least 10 feet of unobstructed space. Violators could be slapped with fines between $1,000 and $2,000.
“If the regulations go through, it’s going to greatly affect our business and it might force us to close,” CapMac manager Brian Arnoff said.
An official for the District’s regulatory agency told the Post that the city would not create all the designated zones at once, but would rather test out the system in a few spots before expanding it.
A Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs public comment period on the proposed guidelines will remain open until April 8. The D.C. Council will hold a hearing on the proposals on April 30. Several food truck operators, including Arnoff, have submitted formal complaints.
If the D.C. Council votes the proposed regulations down or does not act upon them, food trucks would continue to follow “ice cream truck” rules that require parked vendors to have a line of customers waiting for service at all times. The Council members can give the proposal a thumbs up or thumbs down but they cannot amend it.
Mounir Elhilai, a vendor for Crepes Parfait, said the regulations could hurt the truck’s business not only in Foggy Bottom but also at other prime locations such as L’Enfant Plaza, Farragut Square, Metro Center and Navy Yard.
“I feel like the regulations are choking us and pushing us away from the city,” Elhilai said.
The city has cracked down on food truck regulations in the last year as it updates its decades-old rules on mobile vending. The number of food trucks has exploded to more than 100, threatening small brick and mortar restaurants.
Food trucks started to charge a city-imposed 10 percent sales tax in October after local restaurants complained mobile vendors stole their business and evaded tax contribution. The city expects the tax to increase District revenue by $3.45 million over the next four years.
Pedro Ribeiro, a spokesman for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, told the Post that the city does not intend to limit the food truck industry and highlighted plans to allow trucks to operate on the National Mall.
Basil Thyme – which opened in 2011 and was among the first of 20 food trucks in D.C. – announced this month that it would soon shut down its two trucks because of lagging profits and increasingly tough regulations.
