The business bylaw will once again be reviewed by members of the public after council approved another public hearing last week.
After months of settling concerns over how mobile restaurants fit within the bylaw, council chose to review how mobile vendors overall fit as well before adopting the bylaw that’s been in the making since October 2010.
“You think you can get the bylaw resolved and put to rest and you know what, something new pops up,” Mayor Cress Farrow said. “In this case, what about a mobile vendor?”
Council was discussing the mobile vendor concern at their last meeting of council, proposing amendments, only one of which passed.
The amended bylaw will state that a mobile vendor can operate 30 metres or beyond that of a similar business. Councillor Lorne Benson proposed a change to 60 metres, however that motion died as nobody seconded it.
Benson’s second suggestion, to change the clause which states that a mobile restaurant cannot do business within 30 metres from a fixed restaurant, to saying a mobile vendor cannot do business within 30 metres from a fixed restaurant, was defeated as well by the remainder of council.
However his suggestion to waive the restrictions in the event of a special event, such as the Main Street Festival, passed.
“I think that is a really good idea,” Farrow said. “Then you get the people selling snow cones, hot dogs … those kinds of things, so we don’t have the same restrictions for those kinds of things. It really doesn’t impact the businesses at all.”
Farrow expects to see the public process come to council on July 26. This, he said, will give staff time to draw up the revised bylaw to present to interested parties.
