Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Vendor Permits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Newport City Council grants short permits for summer vendors, directs staff to write public‑land vendor policy
Summary
At a June 27 special meeting, the council approved a one‑month permit for Ryan Staples and Christopher Ward and a six‑month permit for David Montague for park vending, and directed the zoning administrator to draft a formal public‑land vendor policy for council consideration at the July 7 meeting.
The Newport City Council voted June 27 to allow two temporary vendor operations on public park land and to task staff with drafting a clear policy for vendors on city property.
Chair (unnamed) told the council the requests from Ryan Staples and Christopher Ward for a yellow bus to operate near the Gardner Park gazebo and from David Montague for an enclosed trailer during softball season had been pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion because the city has relied on an informal set of criteria for vendors on public land. The chair summarized those informal criteria as: whether an activity is tied to a special event, whether it operates more than three consecutive days, whether the vehicle is taken home nightly, and whether there are more than 12 occurrences in a year.
The council approved a one‑month permit for Ryan Staples and Christopher Ward to operate in the gazebo area in July on the condition they coordinate with the farmers market organizers and avoid competing with the Farm‑to‑School lunch program. “I would offer them a permit with the understanding operation is good for the month of July,” the chair said. The council also approved a six‑month permit for David Montague to operate during softball games at the park.
Council members and community speakers raised concerns about overlap with the farmers market and existing vendors. The council said market organizers Judy and Carl would have discretion over market days, and vendors must coordinate with them. Several council members and members of the public urged that a written policy be created to replace the long‑standing informal practice.
The council directed the zoning administrator and staff to prepare vendor‑on‑public‑land policy language based on work done earlier this year and present it for community comment and council consideration at the July 7 regular meeting; the council said it would allow two weeks of public comment before taking final action.
Next steps: the zoning administrator will draft the policy for the July 7 meeting, staff will post application changes online, and the temporary permits will remain in effect under the conditions the council set.
