Committee begins rewrite of peddling code to add food-truck rules after safety, equity and business concerns

The Laws & Rules Committee discussed a proposed update to Chapter 318 of the Kingston code on May 21 that would add specific definitions, permitting and operating requirements for food trucks and revise the city’s peddling and soliciting rules. Committee members raised substantial questions about safety, equity, enforcement and business impacts and directed staff to revise the draft and collect stakeholder input before returning with a revised proposal.

The draft ordinance circulated by staff would require a separate food-truck permit and set operating-location rules (private property or designated public rights-of-way), prohibitions near building entrances, distance buffers from brick-and-mortar restaurants, waste disposal requirements, and night-time parking limits. Staff explained the draft’s intent was public safety, pedestrian circulation, and waste management. One provision would prohibit food trucks from remaining parked on public streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; another set a 9 p.m. shutdown for on-site operations and required removal by 10 p.m.

Council members and attendees objected to several draft provisions. Some members said the proposed hours and location restrictions could disproportionately affect small entrepreneurial operators and immigrant-owned businesses that rely on late-evening sales; one member said the draft felt “onerous” and described fingerprinting, annual background checks and multiple fees as barriers. Others emphasized safety and asked the committee to preserve provisions to keep trucks off corners, to avoid blocking emergency access and to require grease and waste disposal systems and other public-health safeguards.

Committee members also debated whether municipal designation of permitted public streets should be required for each location, and whether truck operation on private property should require council- or resolution-level permission; staff said the draft required designated public locations so the council could set appropriate public streets but acknowledged the need to clarify private-property operations. Members asked staff to review other municipalities’ models and to remove or rework legacy language in the peddling code that requires fingerprinting and asks about prior convictions for minor violations. Several members asked for additional engagement with the Downtown Business Association and district organizations.

No vote was taken to adopt final language. The committee directed staff to gather suggested edits, examples from other cities, and written comments from stakeholders and to present a revised draft addressing hours, fingerprinting/fees, permitted locations, and the safety measures that prompted the proposal.