City’s food truck regulation approved

Legislation will require trucks to obtain permits to operate in city

Avon Lake City Council approved legislation on Oct. 9 requiring mobile food vehicles to register with the city.

The legislation amends Chapter 856 of the city’s codified ordinances and will require mobile food vehicle businesses to obtain a permit from the city to operate within the city for outdoor events or on a seasonal basis.

“This is the result of a lot of hard work by a number of individuals but most importantly Assistant Fire Chief Jeff More (Avon Lake Fire Department) and law director Abe Lieberman put a lot of effort into crafting this new chapter of our codified ordinances,” said Ward IV Councilman and safety committee chair David Kos.

Kos stressed the legislation, which is more than a year in the making, works to ensure the health and safety of residents by placing food

trucks under the same standards as traditional brick and mortar restaurants.

“The reason for this legislation is two-fold. It’s not to overregulate or to do anything of that sort, but it’s a safety reason and to make sure when food trucks come into the community there is an inspection process that takes place,” Kos said. “And there is also a level of fairness that these food trucks begin when they come in where they receive the same types of inspections and quality assurances that restaurants have to go through.”

The legislation requires food vehicles to be licensed by the health district in which they are based. In addition, mobile food trucks must be inspected by the fire department in order to ensure compliances with applicable safety codes.

After receiving recommendations from the fire department and the administration, the city will finalize the cost of mobile food permits in the next few weeks following the next public service committee meeting.

Avon Lake Mayor Gregory Zilka noted the strong reputation of the Lorain County General Health District in terms of conducting food safety inspections.

“They did point out one of the important things they do is inspect food trucks and the restaurants we dine in. They have a very good reputation of being very strict and maintaining very high standards,” Zilka said. “And certainly whenever there are outside events there is the danger of food not being properly handled or refrigerated or heated. So this is where the food trucks are being monitored and that’s one of the things the county health board does for us that we might not even realize.”