Delavan planners review proposed rules to require special-use permits for food trucks on private property

City of Delavan planning staff presented proposed zoning-code language to regulate food and beverage carts and food trucks on private property and asked the Planning Commission for feedback at a public hearing.

The proposal would add a new section to the zoning code requiring a special-use permit for food trucks on private property and include limitations intended to prevent nuisance impacts, including placement rules (for example, at least 25 feet from driveway entrances and 10 feet from building entrances or fire lanes), limits on signage, and a restriction that food trucks may not operate on properties that do not meet their minimum required parking.

The staff presentation said the aim is to move private-property rules out of the municipal code sections that govern public-right-of-way activity and instead place private-property food-truck rules in the zoning code. City staff said the changes were modeled on successful rules used in other communities and that the city planner (Tee) could escalate a special-use matter to a conditional-use review by the planning commission if unusual circumstances arose.

Representatives of Lakeland Resort asked the commission to exempt large-scale resort lodging uses (indoor commercial lodging land uses larger than 5 acres) or to postpone action so staff could ensure the resort’s transient and dispersed food-service operations (for example beverage carts on golf courses, mobile tiki bars and carts used at events) could operate without hundreds of individual permits. Dave Securus, speaking for Lakeland Resort, said many resort carts are not fixed in location and some resort events may run past the 11 p.m. time referenced in the draft language.

Commissioners discussed an exemption for resort properties and the procedural option to exempt properties larger than 5 acres or to allow staff to treat those applications differently. No final action was taken at the meeting; the item was a public hearing and concept review only, with staff and the developer invited to refine language and return for later consideration.

Planning staff clarified next steps: staff will continue refining the draft text, will consider an explicit exemption for large-scale resort lodging uses, and may bring more detailed language back to the planning commission for a future public hearing and formal recommendation to the Common Council if the commission so requests.