More mobile vendors headed to downtown pedestrian mall
Mobile vending association proposed ‘pedestrian pod’
Visitors to the St. John’s downtown pedestrian mall will see four new mobile vending units set up on Water Street this summer.
City council unanimously voted to approve two additional food trucks and two non-food mobile vending units, all of which will be managed by the managed by the Mobile Vendors Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (MVAN), which made the proposal to council. The four units will rotate vendors throughout the summer.
It brings the total mobile units operating at the pedestrian mall to five — three food and two non-food.
“This is another step towards our goal of a successful, vibrant, inclusive downtown pedestrian mall,” Coun. Debbie Hanlon said during Monday’s weekly council meeting.
“I’m sure we’ll see more of these requests come forward in the years to come.”
MVAN had asked for more mobile units for the pedestrian mall. According to the proposal presented to council, the association received expressions of interest from a multitude of vendors.
“We feel that one space would not adequately meet the needs of our members, and would leave too many vendors out of the gainful project,” MVAN chair Allyson Howse wrote. “Our addition will add excitement and variety to an already incredible project.”
The association proposed a “pedestrian pod,” one block of Water Street near Atlantic Place with four mobile vending units, excluding the existing mobile vending site in front of Scotiabank.
Hanlon pointed out that according to city bylaws, mobile vending units must provide their own power source and the use of generators is prohibited, limiting what can be permitted.
Of the eight mobile vendors
interested in participating, three don’t require a generator or electrical hook up — two vendors use solar power and one doesn’t require power. The other mobile vending units require 30 or 50 amps of power, for which there is no current source. After consulting with city electricians it was determined the decorative pole lights within the downtown are not capable of handling such a load.
The proposal states that since the creation of current bylaw, generators have evolved significantly. Current mobile units have built-in or ultra-quiet generators that could potentially be an acceptable solution for the future. Research and a potential revision to the current bylaw may be considered.
Hanlon said the reaction from downtown businesses was mixed.
“A lot of the restaurants were concerned that they’d be directly competing, especially since we’re still in a pandemic year and the overall goal is to help the existing businesses,” she said.
“Council certainly does she the value of the mobile vending units
Food establishments which have signed MVAN’S letter of support for a pedestrian pod proposal include Blue on Water, Rocket Bakery, Bernard Stanley Gastropub, Freak Lunchbox, Cojones Restaurante Inc. and Global Eats.
Cojones owner Lorne Loder wrote in MVAN’S proposal, “We feel the addition of mobile vendors would add flare to the pedestrian mall concept while catering to a different clientele than brickand-mortar restaurants and help fill the void in the banking area.”