
File photo by Jeremy Lange
Food trucks like the Grilled Cheese Bus, shown here at a roundup at Rebus Works in Boylan Heights of Raleigh, can serve in Chapel Hill beginning March 1..
The town will use “proactive compliance,” meaning they will actively perform monthly inspections to make sure rules are followed rather than waiting for citizen complaints and then inquiring. Citations and $50 fines for noncompliance can be issued on the spot. The fines will be levied each day that a truck is found in error. The rules passed include an education program for vendors to make clear the rules and the consequences of violating them.
At previous meetings on food trucks council members expressed concern about the ability to make sure that tax revenue collected by the food trucks in Chapel Hill stays local, the cost of enforcing the rules and protecting established brick-and-mortar restaurants from competition.
Brown's memo to the council states that the Inspections Department likely will need to hire a part-time staff member to monitor the trucks. The department does not have a second-shift officer. The $600 fee per truck or trailer is intended to fund that position.
Town Council will reassess the food truck ordinances in 12 months.
Raleigh passed rules to allow food trucks in September and they have been operating since October 1. Hillsborough followed suit in November.