Bel Air Doing Away With Food Truck Licenses

BEL AIR, MD — Food truck drivers and other “itinerant peddlers” will be able to operate on private property without obtaining a license from the town of Bel Air, under an ordinance the town commissioners passed unanimously Monday night.

As long as they have written permission from the owner of a property, food truck operators and other mobile vendors would not need to obtain a license to operate in the town, according to Michael Krantz, director of human resources and administration for the town of Bel Air.

Vendors are already getting licensed through the county and the state, he said. The ordinance is designed to eliminate “the additional burden it places on food truck operators to get another permit in addition to their food truck permits,” according to Krantz.

In 2013, the town allowed food trucks in designated areas in Bel Air. In particular, they are not allowed in the Main Street business district.

While they were allowed to be in specific zones, Krantz said those operating food trucks may have problems if, for example, they needed to fill in for another operator at the last minute for an event and had not gotten a permit for the truck through the town.

It is "really upsetting to a lot of them and actually sometimes discourages them from operating their food trucks in the town of Bel Air,” Krantz said at an Aug. 31 work session where the topic of eliminating the permit for peddlers was discussed.

The fee to operate a food truck is about $230 a year in Bel Air. As it stands, the town is also required to check the criminal background of an "itinerant peddler." The ordinance eliminates that step too.

Commissioner Patrick Richards described the permitting process as an "administrative hassle" at an Aug. 31 work session.

"Let’s get out of the license business and legislate the code as we need to over time," Richards said, noting if someone were "selling hot tubs on a regular basis," for example, commissioners could "make adjustments."

Other leaders saw potential issues with the ordinance.

“There are certain individuals that may pick this apart a little bit,” Mayor Amy Chmielewski said, such as “our business owners that are paying taxes to be here and the food truck owners that aren’t."

She said she would not want to see someone "park a food truck somewhere permanently."

Said Chmielewski: "That's a problem."

In addition, the director of human resources and administration said the landscape could change for some residents.

“I just wouldn’t want to see a semi-permanent flea market bouncing up in people’s parking lots,” Krantz said. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing — it would be fun and exciting and something new — but I don’t think everyone would see it that way.”

Nobody testified at the public hearing on Ordinance 804-21 — Amending Town Code Chapter 272 Itinerant Dealers, Peddlers, and Solicitors — which occurred at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4, at Bel Air Town Hall, 39 N. Hickory Avenue.

See Also: Food Trucks Get OK In Bel Air