Oak Ridge approves new rules for food trucks
Penne For Your Thoughts sells pasta at a food-truck festival in Oak Ridge. (photo:Benjamin Pounds )
“The food truck industry is anticipated to continue to rise and needs to be regulated for public safety purposes,” a city memo included in the agenda stated.
The ordinance describes a food truck as a “mobile vehicle or trailer used to transport and/or prepare food for sale to the public.”
Any food truck operator with a state permit can operate in the city of Oak Ridge. But those without a state permit will need to have a permit from the city.
The ordinance also lays out rules for these food trucks.
Food trucks need permission from property owners or tenants in order to operate on their property. This is true for both city and private property.
They’re not allowed to use “sound amplification equipment” for any purpose.”
Other regulations involve safety.
Food trucks under the new rules can’t get in the way of “pedestrian or vehicular traffic” and their placement can’t cause safety hazards to the public.
They also must have working fire extinguishers.
Unless the truck’s operator owns the property, the food truck’s owner can’t leave the truck parked at a site after closing for business.
Operators also may not leave a truck unattended and not secure when food is still in it.
An accessible restroom must be available to customers and employees wherever a food truck parks.
Councilman Charles Hensley made the motion to approve the ordinance, and Councilman Chuck Hope seconded. It passed unanimously, although Mayor Warren Gooch was not present.
The ordinance goes into effect Thursday, July 20.