How close should a food truck or cart be allowed to a brick and motar restaurant?

That is a question city officials have been comtemplating this month as they work toward approving a new city ordinance for outdoor dining.

On Monday, Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman, said Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist is going to veto the outdoor dining ordinance changes the council passed at a special meeting earlier this month because the new law didn’t include food trucks or carts.

On June 15, the council approved four ordinances to change zoning codes for outdoor dining, noise, Jamestown Public Market and to adopt the parklet pilot program.

During the special meeting, the only discussion the council had on the four ordinances was the outdoor dining proposal. Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, Kim Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman, Marie Carrubba, Ward 4 councilwoman and Vickye James, Ward 3 councilwoman, all proposed that the ordinance dealing with outdoor dining and food trucks and carts to be split.

The council approved the proposed changes for outdoor dining while tabling the proposal for food trucks and trailers because more discussion was needed.

Russell said he contacted several downtown businesses about the food truck and cart proposal, with them all concerned about the additional competition. He said a lot of the business owners discussed how they’re operating on a shoestring budget because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that downtown business owners believe food trucks and carts would be detrimental to their restaurants.

Ecklund agreed with Russell stating that even though businesses are starting to reopen, there still isn’t enough business to sustain the restaurants downtown let alone additional food trucks or carts. Both Carrubba and James agreed that the outdoor dining part of the ordinance should be passed to assist downtown businesses and that the food truck and cart portion should be tabled for more discussion.

On Monday, Sheldon said at issue seems to be distance a food truck or trailer needs to be from a brick and mortar downtown restaurant. The ordinance that was tabled stated that a food truck needed to be 100 feet away from a downtown restaurant. During the council’s discussions on the topic, it has been proposed that a food truck should not be allowed within 200 feet of a brick and mortar restaurant. Sheldon proposed a compromise to allow food trucks to not be within 150 feet.

“The big sticking point is food trucks,” Sheldon said.

Ecklund on Monday said Crystal Surdyk, city development director, was in the process of discussing food trucks with owners of downtown restaurants. Ecklund said there is more at issue than just the distance a food truck is from an established brick and mortar restaurant.

Because of audio issues throughout the online meeting Monday, the council agreed it wasn’t the best time to continue discussing food trucks. Sundquist said his office staff will schedule a meeting for the council later this week to further discuss the topic.

Prior to the council’s discussion, Jennifer Williams, city clerk, read two letters that had been submitted to city officials in favor of the food trucks being allowed in downtown Jamestown. One was signed by several people and the other was signed by Michael and Sarah Bigney, the owners of Crown Street Roasting Company located along Third Street in downtown Jamestown.

In other business, Sundquist said he will be appointing an acting police chief following the retirement of Harry Snellings, Jamestown Police Department chief and city public safety director, July 10. Sundquist said he will be creating a recommendation committee to find the next city police chief. He said applications will be accepted for the position throughout the month of July from internal and external candidates.

The new proposed skateboard park to be built near McCrea Point Park was also discussed during the meeting. Jeff Lehman, city public works director, said city officials received three bids to construct the skatepark. Lehman said the skateboard experts on the committee for the new park selected Grindline of Seattle, Wash., as the best of the three proposals. He said Lake Shore Paving, who also bid on the project, will assist Grindline with some of the work on the project.

The skate park is being funded by a $250,000 matching grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, with assistance from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. foundation. The local share of the $500,000 skate park is coming from the city’s Urban Development Action Grant fund, federal Community Development Block Grant funding and donations raised through several grassroots efforts by the local skating community.