A controversial decision to make amendments to the Town of Golden Temporary License of Occupation Policy to allow for long term mobile vending has been reversed.
During the last council meeting in June, council “approved in principle” amendments to the policy that would allow mobile vendors to set up shop at four different locations around town between the months of May and October.
On July 16 council unanimously voted to reverse that decision.
“I am the voice of descent here,” said Coun. Caleb Moss, who was the sole councillor to vote against the original amendments. “I am in support of the notion of it (mobile vending), but in the right context.”
The amendments to the policy were not going to be made into a bylaw, therefore making it a pilot project of sorts. Given that council had not discussed, from a policy perspective, what they hoped to accomplish by changing the policy, Moss pointed out that there would be no way to measure its success or failure.
“We had a couple requests for mobile vending, so we directed staff to make it happen. But we never asked why we wanted it,” said Moss.
The Temporary License of Occupation Policy does however allow for special event licensing for mobile vendors. The vendor just needs permission from the license holder for the event.
That is why mobile venders are able to set up shop at the Farmers’ Markets.
Council has directed staff to look at expanding that special event licensing to allow for vending during sporting events. Right now, a softball tournament for example, is not included as a special event because they are using the facility for its intended purpose (ie playing softball on softball fields).
Because of this, the organizers of events like a tournament do not need a license, and therefore cannot permit mobile vending through their license.
The issue of longterm mobile vending around town is dormant for the time being, however council indicated that if the market changed, and local businesses were no longer meeting consumer demand, then they would revisit the issue.
