FOOD TRUCK APPROVED BUT NOT ALLOWED A SPOT
The Pink Elephant Food Truck was approved by the selectmen to work parties and events in town, but the board declined to give the vendor permission to set up regularly and sell its tacos and Asian rice bowls at a roadside location on Route 7.
Natasha Andrews, owneroperator of The Pink Elephant, had sought a vendor’s permit to work in Ridgefield and wanted approval to set up regularly at
137 Ethan Allen Highway, a “corporate lot” a little south of the intersection of routes
7 and 35.
The town’s policy allows food trucks to work at parties or events, but not to set up as roadside vendors. The policy was partly meant to protect the interests of tax-paying “brick and mortar” restaurants and commercial properties.
There are currently three exceptions allowed. The Chez Lenard hot dog cart on Main Street and Zwack Shack lunch wagon on Route 7 had already established their locations when the restrictions on mobile food vendors were adopted, so the ordinance grandfathered those operations in as permitted exceptions.
And, earlier this fall, the Nod Hill Brewery and its supporters petitioned for a town meeting that amended the town ordinance to allow food trucks to operate at breweries and wineries as accessory uses in coordination with the main use — the brewery or winery.