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Plan Commission backs new rules for 'mobile food courts,' limits signage and requires permanent restrooms
Summary
The commission approved text amendments to chapter 44 to define mobile food courts (3+ vendors), congregations and rallies; permanent courts will be conditional uses with development standards including on-site permanent restrooms, hard-surface truck pads, seating requirements and limited signage. The package goes to council March 3.
The Green Bay Plan Commission on Feb. 23 approved text amendments to Municipal Code chapter 44 establishing rules for food-truck assemblies and forwarded the ordinance to the Common Council on March 3.
Planning staff told the commission the amendments create three categories: a mobile food court (a permanent use on a parcel with three or more food establishments, approved via conditional use permit and subject to development standards), a mobile food congregation (short-term accessory use on private property) and a mobile food rally (temporary gatherings requiring a temporary-use permit or special-event permit). Staff said the code previously was silent on many of these forms and the changes are intended to clarify which city office (planning or the clerk) regulates each type.
Key standards in the draft ordinance include a requirement that a mobile food court provide a permanent restroom facility (not portable toilets), that trucks park on a hard surface rather than grass, and that seating be provided (staff noted a baseline of roughly one table of four seats per parking pad). Staff also recommended limits on signage (a single pylon or monument sign not to exceed 100 square feet and wall signage capped at 50 square feet for permanent structures) and development standards that avoid large, solid 6-foot fences along frontages in favor of more visually open treatments. Hours of operation were tied to existing license hours, generally capped at 10 p.m., with downtown operating districts allowed later hours up to 3 a.m. unless adjacent to residential uses.
Commissioners discussed fencing, district allowances, shared parking options and an expectation that the code may be revisited after a year of implementation. A motion to approve the draft ordinance passed; staff will forward the ordinance to the Common Council on March 3 for final action.
