Creve Coeur, MO: Food Trucks – Planning Panel Considering How to Regulate Them

Food trucks like this one in Maplewood, have been both the source of avid support and controversy in communities in St. Louis. Creve Coeur appears to be ready to address the issue more fully this year. Credit Doug Miner

By Gregg Palermo | Creve Coeur Patch

Food trucks like this one in Maplewood, have been both the source of avid support and controversy in communities in St. Louis. Creve Coeur appears to be ready to address the issue more fully this year. Credit Doug Miner
Food trucks like this one in Maplewood, have been both the source of avid support and controversy in communities in St. Louis. Creve Coeur appears to be ready to address the issue more fully this year. Credit Doug Miner

The city of Creve Coeur is getting ready for a discussion about how best to handle the use and regulation of food trucks.

While city officials have pointed to concerns about not wanting to undercut brick and mortar restaurants in the city, food trucks have been present in Creve Coeur in recent years.

Some businesses have been critical of the city’s approach thus far in allowing some areas like CityPlace to bring them in to cater to employees, while denying others, like CenterCo Office Suites, which sought to use them as a draw to bring traffic to the building.

In a memo prepared for Monday’s Creve Coeur Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Theresa Bradshaw, Public Information Officer and Management Analyst laid out a comparison of cities nearby, noting Chesterfield’s embrace of them, with stipulations like hours of operation, a buffer distance from brick and mortar restaurants, among others.

Read the rest of the meeting agenda

As for Creve Coeur, Bradshaw wrote:

“Going forward, the approach for Creve Coeur depends largely on what concerns are or are not present in the community as well as whether the city would have the staff resources necessary to enforce regulations. Based on staffing concerns, a more simplistic and streamlined approach will be preferable.”

No vote on any kind of policy is scheduled for Monday. Bradshaw indicates in her memo that the subject will come up in future Planning and Zoning and City Council sessions.

http://crevecoeur.patch.com/articles/planning-panel-to-talk-about-food-trucks