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Board wants to alter rules to allow for taco trucks

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Don’t call it a reprieve, more like a pause in the action, but for operators of Carrboro’s taco trucks there was good news Tuesday night from the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.

At the close of the board of aldermen meeting at Town Hall, Mayor Mark Chilton asked the town’s planning and zoning staff to review the ordinance that the trucks were found in violation of and offer up potential solutions to keep the trucks in operation.

Last month, the town sent a letter to the owners of Fitch Lumber, Johnny Sporting Goods and Cliff’s Meat Market saying the taco trucks, which usually operate in the evening hours at those sites, are in violation of town zoning ordinances.

The letters went out after town officials received an anonymous complaint and investigated whether the trucks were out of compliance with zoning rules.

Chilton said that while he understood that officials were enforcing the rules consistently with the way they had in the past, there is a strong desire to find a way to allow the trucks to operate.

“It might be time to consider a modification,” Chilton said of the ordnance, which was originally worded to exempt farmers selling items they grew and trucked in to the farmers’ market.

Planning administrator Trish McGuire said members of the planning and zoning staff will meet today (Thursday) to discuss next steps and that she will likely meet with the businesses and truck owners to help come up with a possible new ordinance.

McGuire said it was clear Tuesday that the board is interested in finding a way to change the ordinance so that it was supportive of the trucks.

Once new language is drafted, the board will review it and decide whether to call a public hearing, which in most cases is required before the town can modify its ordinances. McGuire said she did not know how long the process of rewriting the rules would take.

In the meantime, Marty Roupe of the town’s zoning division said that the town will not move forward with what are typical next steps in enforcing a zoning violation. Businesses already got an initial letter, which told them they were not in compliance and asked them to voluntarily stop allowing the trucks to use the property, Roupe said. But the next step, a second letter setting a deadline and putting the businesses on notice that they face fines, won’t be sent, he said.

Roupe said it doesn’t make sense to try and enforce the rule if the board of aldermen has already indicated it wants to change it.

In other action Tuesday night, the board of aldermen:

  • approved a memorandum of understanding with the Partnership to End Homelessness to help formalize a joint effort by Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and Orange County governments on the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness;
  • authorized the transfer of a 7,537-square-foot parcel on Eugene Street to the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust to allow the trust to build an affordable home on the site, which is adjacent to the newly completed bike path as part of the Roberson Place project;
  • set a public hearing to review road closings for the Tar Heel 10 Miler on Saturday, April 26;
  • approved a change to the zoning ordinance to change lighting restrictions and parking space dimensions in two downtown zoning districts.

Further information on board of aldermen meetings, including video and audio of meetings, can be found through the town’s website at www.townofcarrboro.org/BoA/Agendas/boaAgendas.htm

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