Hartford’s prohibition on late-night food trucks — aimed at preventing pop-up parties during the pandemic — would become a permanent restriction for street vendors under a new proposal from Mayor Luke Bronin.
The city is also in the early stages of trying to develop one or two food truck parks in the city, like those taking off in West Hartford and other towns, planning director Aimee Chambers said. She said there is some private interest, but no preliminary plans to share.
“We just want to kind of have that project manager hat on and make sure we can get behind this energy and drive it forward,” she said.
Food trucks in Hartford have been barred from operating past 9 p.m. since mid-June under a temporary, emergency order from the mayor, which states that food trucks were creating a health concern by attracting customers who did not social distance or wear face masks.
While COVID-19 cases are now falling and statewide regulations have begun to lift, Bronin is asking city council to codify the food truck rule, make it illegal for them to operate on streets and sidewalks after 9 p.m. The city’s proposal would not apply to food trucks operating in conjunction with a drinking establishment, or during special events, assuming they are issued a permit to participate.
The draft ordinance also stipulates that food trucks and other mobile vendors can only operate in streets if they are commercial connectors, avenues and boulevards and meet certain zoning requirements.
Neither Bronin’s original order nor his new proposal name any problem areas. However, Chambers says the new proposal — introduced to council Monday night — was crafted with Wethersfield Avenue in mind.
Food trucks would be barred completely on residential streets, including Wethersfield Avenue, under the revised ordinance.
The South End thoroughfare becomes a late-night, gathering place on the weekends every spring and summer, attracting throngs of people and, at times, hundreds of cars, motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes. The crowds were especially large last year as car meetups and unlicensed clubs filled the void left by shuttered restaurants and bars.
The revised ordinance would primarily limit food trucks to commercial and industrial streets, many of which are located in the North Meadows and South Meadows and the downtown. There are allowable streets in every neighborhood, including Bartholomew Avenue in Parkville, Summit Street next to Trinity College, Homestead Avenue near Woodland Street in Upper Albany, and the Five Corners and North Main Street areas of the North End.
Ernest Foster, owner of the Curbside Chef food truck, says the city is taking the wrong approach to limit vendors. As long as the weather is warm, people will be out partying on the main strips in the South End, he said, and the food trucks are simply responding to that demand, and preventing hordes of people from descending on gas station convenience stores.
“Those food trucks are not creating the problem,” Foster said. “I would not even say they’re part of the problem. The trucks are actually out there helping to prevent additional issues.”
Foster, who lives in Hartford, prefers a quieter clientele so he only sells his all-American fare on Wethersfield Avenue for breakfast and lunch, then he partners with Phantom Brewery in South Meadows a few nights a week.
But he defended his fellow vendors, saying without food trucks, “people are only gonna act a fool even more.”
Nick Lebron, a Democratic city councilman, said he doesn’t think the proposal is intended to be permanent. When the state lifts restrictions on bars and clubs, it will make sense to let food trucks operate later, too.
Lebron says he knows there’s demand for the vendors, and that they help people sober up – he used to run a hot dog cart outside a night club on Franklin Avenue.
But for now, he said, the city needs to address the “kind of Fast and Furious thing” that consumed parts of the South End last year, sometimes bringing traffic to a halt. And he thinks food trucks contributed to that problem.
“I understand the need to have it but the food trucks themselves are promoting this outside atmosphere, this outside club if you will and I think that’s what the danger is,” Lebron said. “We can’t have outside clubs right now. It’s just too risky.”
Food trucks that violate the revised ordinance could face fines of $200 per offense.
Brian Perry, who owns a hot dog cart called No Pork on Dis Fork, said it’s hard to find a good location to work. Under the new ordinance, he would have to leave his current spot on Park Street across from Pope Park, but other opportunities would open up.
The city is proposing doing away with a requirement that food trucks rent a parking spot to vend in the downtown. That’s been a cost too high for Perry.
He’s hopeful the city will not only waive that requirement but open a food truck park in the downtown.
“I think it would be great. New Haven has it over by the wharf, and other cities have the food truck parks,” Perry said. “I would probably go anywhere they had one in Hartford.”
Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.
