Judge Tosses Law On How Close Food Trucks Can Be To Restaurants

A Baltimore circuit court judge on Wednesday tossed the city's restrictions on where certain food trucks may operate.

Judge Karen C. Friedman ruled the ban on mobile vendors operating within 300 feet of any brick-and-mortar business that primarily offers the same type of product or service is too vague and therefore unconstitutional. The city has 60 days to stop enforcing the rule.

"This Court is not particularly concerned with the number of feet that the ordinance established, but rather with the lack of clarity, and therefore the inevitable lack of consistency in how the chosen amount of feet be measured," Friedman wrote, noting officials don't have a uniform way to measure that distance.

She also noted that the rules don't define the "same type of food product," leaving room for interpretation by those who would enforce the rules.

The law as it stood carried a misdemeanor charge and $500 in fines.

The operators of the two Baltimore-area food trucks, Pizza di Joey and Mindgrub Cafe, who brought the challenge cheered the ruling, though attorneys say one big question remains.

Since day one, it has been clear that the 300-foot ban has completely left Baltimore’s food trucks in the lurch,” attorney Greg Reed with the Institute for Justice, which took up the case, said in a statement. “The judge gave the city 60 days to stop enforcing the law, which means food trucks will soon no longer have to live in fear of criminal prosecution.”

What they want made clear in their appeal of the ruling is whether the law's purpose, which they see as advantaging brick-and-mortar businesses, unconstitutional under the state constitution? The answer could impact future iterations of this kind of legislation.

“I’m happy that this ruling will let me operate more freely in the city, but I look forward to a day when laws like these no longer exist," said Joey Vanoni, owner of Pizza di Joey. "This is not just a win for me, but a win for all hungry Baltimoreans who will finally have the freedom to choose where to eat lunch.”

“Today’s ruling means Charm City is one step closer to food truck freedom,” added IJ Senior Attorney Robert Frommer. “But until the Maryland courts declare once and for all that cities cannot make it a crime to compete, we will keep fighting.”