The Town of Ridgefield has scheduled a public hearing and meeting for July 25 to decide whether the local ordinance on food truck operations should be amended to enable these culinary vehicles to park for extended periods at breweries and wineries.

According to a Ridgefield Press report, the hearing was scheduled following a successful petition drive by supporters of the Nod Hill Brewery on Route 7, which is seeking to have food trucks parked at its location. Under an amended ordinance passed in November 2016, food trucks and carts cannot stay in the same location for longer than 15 minutes. The petition drive sought to update the ordinance to enable mobile food service operations as an “accessory to a brewery or winery.”

“We wish to host high-quality, locally based food trucks to provide fresh, gourmet meals for our patrons,” said Nod Hill Brewery co-owner David Kaye. “We have received an overwhelming amount of requests for food trucks at our brewery and wish to serve our customers’ needs as best we can. We also see it as a great opportunity to collaborate with like-minded chefs to provide a wide range of different food that pairs with our beer offerings. Finally, we feel that this can be a helpful safety measure to encourage responsible drinking at our taproom.”

The November 2016 amended ordinance was designed to benefit Ridgefield restaurants from the low-overhead food truck competition, but Kaye felt that the traditional brick-and-mortar eateries would not be at a disadvantage. “Based on our friendly relationships with neighboring restaurants in the Branchville area, we feel that our hosting food trucks will not cause any issues that the original ordinance was designed to prevent,” he said.