Fargo staff, vendors and downtown stakeholders seek rules to balance pushcarts, safety and costs; permits extended 90 days

FARGO — City planning staff and downtown stakeholders met to address recurring problems with sidewalk food pushcarts, including disputes over late‑night sales, cleanup and who should shoulder the costs of maintaining busy downtown sidewalks.

Planning Director Nicole Crutchfield told the group that chapter 18 of the municipal code governs pushcarts on public sidewalks and that operating permits require approvals from both the public health office and the planning department. She said staff have extended current permits for 90 days "to resolve some of these tensions" while staff, the Downtown Community Partnership and city departments develop changes.

"I've only extended the current permits for 90 days, giving us 90 days to resolve some of these tensions," Crutchfield said, noting the existing rules date to about 2006 and that enforcement has grown more complicated in recent years.

Rocky Schneider, executive director of the Downtown Community Partnership (which administers the downtown Business Improvement District), described a practical funding gap: the city charges pushcart operators a $50 permit while brick‑and‑mortar businesses pay BID assessments that fund daily cleanup and maintenance.

"The $50 permit compared to, you know, the parity issues that are created between that and when a brick and mortar business pays into BID," Schneider said, arguing the permit fee does not cover the BID's costs when staff spend time cleaning up after carts.

Vendors defended their practices and asked for evidence before being penalized. Terrell Boxley, a long‑time downtown vendor, said he and other regular permit‑holders clean grease and litter, comply with officers and would not operate past closing hours. "Show me proof that I have," he said, pushing back against claims some vendors are selling as late as 3–4 a.m.

Police and city staff described enforcement limits. Captain Travis Mosher said the 2 a.m. closing time is enforceable as an infraction, "so we can cite them if they're operating past 2AM," but he warned that officers are heavily tasked at bar close and have limited capacity to police planning ordinance violations such as tenting, garbage cans or the 60‑foot buffer rule, which are administered by planning staff.

Stakeholders and commissioners discussed several possible changes: increasing permit fees or security deposits to cover cleanup and BID costs; clarifying whether "last sale" or "operating" defines the 2 a.m. limit; creating a confined food court or centralized vendors' area (such as at Broadway Square) that could be better staffed and equipped; and encouraging vendors to operate on private property where time limits do not apply.

Warren Ackley, representing a downtown restaurant, asked city staff to reexamine the 60‑foot buffer from a restaurant entrance and to consider the financial impacts on brick‑and‑mortar operators. "We need to support the brick and mortars downtown too," Ackley said, noting the restaurant sector is already under pressure.

City staff said judges have sometimes dismissed tickets and that revoking a permit would require a hearing before the City Commission, making it a contested, time‑consuming process. Crutchfield also offered an initial estimate of staff time tied to administering and enforcing the program, saying a fully allocated cost could be on the order of "$5,000 to $7,000" per permit if staff time were tallied.

As next steps, commissioners and staff asked for comparisons to other cities, a compendium of pros and cons for possible approaches, and broader vendor and public input. Crutchfield said staff and partners would compile recommendations and return to the commission, with the temporary 90‑day extension keeping current operations in place while changes are developed.

The meeting closed after public testimony from vendors who reiterated support for clearer rules that also preserve downtown vibrancy.