Melt food truck.JPG

The Melt food truck is part of the Greater Birmingham Street Food Coalition that has rallied to voice its opposition to a proposed mobile food vendors' ordinance in Birmingham. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Birmingham City Council could vote Tuesday on a much-debated and long-delayed mobile food vendors’ ordinance that food truck owners say is “restrictive and oppressive” and, if passed, could put them out of business.

The Greater Birmingham Street Food Coalition, which represents the food truck and push cart operators, is opposed in particular to a provision in the proposed ordinance that would restrict them to certain designated zones and limit their ability to move around the city.

[UPDATE: Council delays food truck vote until Dec. 10]

“The GBSFC is fighting this ordinance because, as it stands now, it is restrictive and oppressive,” Paget Pizitz, co-owner of the Melt food truck and vice president of the coalition, wrote in an email to AL.com. “If passed, it could put many of the trucks, carts and trailers out of business.

Customers line up outside the Cantina on Wheels food truck at the second annual Trucks By the Tracks benefit at Railroad Park in September. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

“This means countless loss of jobs and there is the potential that Birmingham would be a city without food trucks. This is particularly upsetting because the people of Birmingham have been so welcoming and supportive of the food truck community.”

The coalition has adopted the slogan “No Zones, Let Us Roam,” and is urging councilors to vote no on the ordinance as it is currently written.

"The Birmingham Food Truck Coalition is concerned with the proposed Birmingham Food Truck and Mobile Vendor Ordinance, as it currently stands,” the group said in a statement. “Among other provisions, the proposed ordinance would limit food truck operations to currently unknown ‘food zones’ to be designated in the future by the City Council.

“The heart and soul of Birmingham's food truck movement lies in its ability to move about the city, bringing its culinary variety to the city's diverse demographics. Limiting our food trucks' ability to move freely about the city undermines the very essence of food truck culture and does a disservice not only to the food trucks themselves but to those who may not get to enjoy food trucks otherwise.

“In the spirit of cooperation, we would like to invite the Councilors, especially those new to their office, to join us in an open discussion before allowing a vote on an ordinance that could rob Birmingham of what is quickly becoming an integral part of its culture and downtown revitalization.”

Councilman Johnathan Austin, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he had not heard from the food truck owners regarding their most recent concerns and was unaware of their latest opposition to the proposed ordinance until he was contacted by AL.com this afternoon.

“The council is and has always been receptive to any concerns that the (mobile food) industry has, whether those are locations or zones, whatever it is,” Austin said. “The city council is concerned about all of those issues. What we have to do is make sure we balance the concerns of the mobile food vending industry with the city’s own concerns.”

Although the proposed ordinance is on the council agenda for a vote Tuesday, that vote could be delayed if necessary, Austin said.

“It is a public hearing,” he said. “We will take the information and concerns from the mobile food vending industry as well as the brick-and-mortar (restaurants) and try to balance those and make the best decision.

“That may happen tomorrow,” Austin added. “It may take us a week to come to a resolution, but we will get it resolved. And we will do something that hopefully will be a balance between the mobile food industry, the brick-and-mortar and, ultimately, the citizens of Birmingham.”

It has been a year and four months since the food truck issue first boiled over at a public hearing at Birmingham City Hall in July 2012, when a few angry restaurant owners complained to the council that the street food vendors were parking in front of their businesses and taking away some of their customers.

The issue has been simmering on the back burner since, as the council's staff has looked at what other cities around the country have done to regulate the growing food truck movement. The proposal has undergone a few revisions during that time, the most recent being last month.



"They (mobile food vendors) have had more than a year to provide any feedback to myself and my colleagues on any facet of this ordinance that they are not happy with, or that they would like to see changed," Austin said this afternoon.

While the food truck operators have mobilized and

, the restaurant owners have been mostly quiet for the past year.

The ordinance the council could vote on Tuesday would, among other things:

Require food truck vendors to pay an annual fee of $300 for a general permit to operate with the city limits or $500 for a “premier” permit to operate within the City Center; for push carts operators, those fees would be $80 or $100, respectively.

Establish a Mobile Food Vendors Committee made up of representatives from various city departments, as well as REV Birmingham and the Greater Birmingham Street Food Coalition, to review all applications and approve their locations.

Restrict food trucks from operating with 150 feet of an existing restaurant.

Limit, with some exceptions, the hours during which mobile food vendors could operate to between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, plus some late-night hours determined on a case-by-case basis.

Continue reading AL.com for coverage of Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Updated at 10:33 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, to add a link indicating the Birmingham City Council delayed the vote on the food truck ordinance until Dec. 10.