Food Trucks: A Fair Fight In Creve Coeur?

It appears Creve Coeur could be among the next municipalities in the St. Louis region to tackle the thorny issue of food trucks. They appear to be popular with customers and event organizers, but where and when they can show up in Creve Coeur is up for some debate.

At an informal sit down with Mayor Barry Glantz and other city officials November 1, representatives from CenterCo Office Suites asked for a clarification after they said they were told the trucks were not allowed after having had them in the building's parking lot on a few occassions.

City Administrator Mark Perkins said he was concerned about the impact food trucks would have on local businesses, especially on the city's restaurant base, and also voiced questions about making sure city sales taxes were paid.

CityPlace Exception?

Perkins said he was not aware that food trucks make stops at CityPlace on a regular basis when Patch first inquired following the informal session with residents that included the food truck query.

In fact, food truck firms regularly use social media to promote their appearances there.

Paul Langdon, the city's Director of Community Development, said the difference between the two examples is that CityPlace invites the Food Trucks to the campus essentially to cater to workers there, whereas in the CenterCo example, they city's interpretation was that food trucks were being used as a promotional avenue to draw people to the building.

The fact that the food trucks promote their appearances at CityPlace is something that the hosts can't control, in Langdon's view.

Langdon told Patch that as far as food trucks go, it is currently "a rule by interpretation" in Creve Coeur.

The Future

Langdon said food trucks are included as part of a long-ranging re-write of city codes on the horizon, and under current thinking, would be classified as a conditional use in certain commercial districts requiring planning and zoning and city council approval, just as a brick and mortar restaurant does. But even then, Langdon said there are a lot of questions.

"How do you do a CUP (conditional use permit) on a mobile operation? It's tricky because they come in town anyway. Once a few are here, the word'll get out and then they'll all start coming here because they all know what a lunch crowd we have, and then how do we police that, that's the scary part," he told Patch.

Langdon said he didn't think the city would take steps that would be more permissive of food trucks in the future.

"There's no question we have a huge investment by a lot of restauranteurs in conventional bricks and mortar and I am in no way interested in harming those investments by allowing food trucks to just overrun the place," Langdon said.