NORTHAMPTON — Could food trucks be coming to downtown Northampton?
That possibility was a subject of discussion at the city’s Ordinance Review Committee meeting held on Nov. 12, with debate over whether their inclusion would help or hurt existing brick-and-mortar businesses.
Under the city’s current ordinances, food trucks cannot operate within the city’s Central Business District, an area including all of Main Street in Northampton as well as Pearl Street, Strong Avenue, and Crafts Avenue. Food trucks also cannot work in parts of Florence not zoned for general business.
Under the city’s charter, ordinances are reviewed by the Ordinance Review Committee every five years for possible revision. The committee brought the food truck ordinance before the public during its Nov. 12 remote meeting for “community listening and discussion” about a possible change to the rule.
At-large City Councilor Garrick Perry, a member of the review committee, said he wanted to bring the matter forward again to address a lack of late-night food options within the city.
“We are now a city that closes at essentially 9 o’clock. I see room to look at the food truck ordinance to maybe use it as a tool to help,” Perry said. “If we’re looking for a vibrant downtown, I think that this is a nice starting place.”
Alan Wolf, the mayor’s chief of staff, shared at the meeting the results of a survey the city had sent to retail and restaurant owners and managers downtown, as well as to owners and managers of property, professional services and entertainment venues in the area.
Of the 44 respondents, 43% said they would “definitely” support considering changes to the food truck regulations, while another 22% said they would “possibly” support a change depending on the details. A quarter of respondents, almost all restaurant owners, said they were opposed to to any changes in the ordinances, with 6.8% of responders supporting changes in Florence but not downtown Northampton and 2.3% supporting a change only if it was for after 9 p.m.
“For the most part, professional services and retail owners are supportive of at least reexamining things. And then restaurants and property owners are the most skeptical,” Wolf said. “To the extent that they do demonstrate some flexibility to have the conversation, they really want to make sure that whatever happens, it’s fair, and it takes into account the operational challenges of brick-and-mortar restaurants.”
Many members of the public, some of whom were themselves downtown business owners, also voiced their opinions on the possibility of a change to the food truck ordinance.
Judy Herrell, who runs Herell’s Ice Cream on Old South Street just footsteps from Main Street, said while she wasn’t “completely oppossed” to having food trucks downtown, she said she had “a lot of reservations” about the idea.
“Food trucks will compete with brick-and-mortar. And brick-and-mortar right now are just trying to come back from COVID. They’re very nervous,” Herrell said. “I just would like everybody to be very, very careful at looking how they do this, if they do it at all, and really, really think about how it’s going to affect people.”
Jeremiah Micka, who owns Union Station at 125 Pleasant St., said he was “100% against” a change in the ordinance.
“I think it’s an unfair competition. As brick-and-mortars, we pay high property taxes, we staff full-time employees,” Micka said. “We’ve put a lot of time, money, and effort into building this town, and to let somebody come in as a husband-and-wife duo and mop up during the busy times is not beneficial to anybody.”
Others spoke more favorably of the idea, such as Joseph Kress, who runs Augustine’s Pizza Club in Northampton.
“To continue the ban on food trucks is a massive disservice to the community,” Kress said. “The experience of a food truck or a food vendor or a stand is completely different than that of a restaurant. It’s not in direct competition.”
Jena Sujat, who owns the craft goods store Pinch on Main Street, said that the concerns of other businesses, not just restaurants, needed to be considered when considering whether to allow food trucks. She also said she frequently visited the city of Austin, Texas, which has large amount of both restaurants and food trucks.
“They do not see each other as being in competition. They seem to thrive together and create an overall vibrant food city,” Sujat said. “A lot of the food trucks are incubators, and I could probably list a hundred that started as food trucks and then went on to become brick-and-mortars. So it just seems to be thriving and helping everybody.”
The Ordinance Review Committee will consider the idea when putting together its final report to present to the council on recommended changes (if any) to the city’s existing ordinances currently in place.