ROCKLAND — Rockland City Council will hear public opinion regarding proposed ordinance revisions regulating container restaurants and food wagons at its Feb. 9 meeting. 

The ordinance being considered does not apply to the Downtown or the Tillson Avenue overlay areas. Instead, it applies to “all other areas where eating establishments are currently allowed,” according to Councilor Larry Pritchett.

The Council voted 5 to 0 at its Jan. 12 regularly scheduled meeting to exclude container restaurants and food wagons from the Downtown and Tillson Avenue Area Overlay Zone and establish regulations for container restaurants and food wagons in those zones where eating and drinking establishments are allowed. 

These proposed revisions do not apply to food trucks, which are separately regulated.

The prior version of the ordinance allowed container restaurants and food wagons to be sit-down facilities. The proposed revision only allows for take out. The primary structure can remain on the grounds year-round, provided that it meets certain conditions so it is tightly maintained.  The revision also brings the structures that are on public property under this scope. 

The council has defined Container Restaurant as “a prefabricated shipping or storage-type structure that has either been converted for use as, or built for use as, a takeout restaurant. Container restaurants do not have wheels or axles attached but are built on skids or a frame and are not affixed to the ground.

“A food wagon is a stand, trailer, or other small mobile structure outfitted for selling or for serving light meals and snacks to the public. The term ‘food wagon’ does not include push carts that are removed daily or vehicles selling food from the street in accordance with Chapter 15, Article I, Section 15-109.”

All  container restaurants and food wagons must submit applications for planning board approval. Structures with floor space greater than 250 square feet will be further scrutinized by the planning board for architecture or design, space and bulk, and buffering and screening performance standards. 

The season is defined as eight months or less, and hours of operation are limited 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. 

Restroom availability for employees, as well as water supplies and wastewater disposal, are the responsibility of the restaurant owner. The operator is expected to keep clean of visible waste.  Exterior speakers are to be prohibited.

“All of these major revisions were in direct response to committees making recommendations to us,” said Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf, who was the original sponsor of the ordinance, at the Jan. 12 meeting. “And, as always, I’m very supportive of what the committees and commissions have to say.”

At the same meeting, Councilor Pritchett said: “The comms recommendation was to focus on, I believe it was Harbor Park, and the question we got through staff was there has been kind of a round peg/square hole in terms of container restaurants and food wagons in other parts of town.

“What we attempted to do here is create a standard for food wagons, a standard for food restaurants that applies universally to any zone, where eating establishment are already allowed, and to city property in any zone that eating establishments are already allowed.”

In other city business

The Council will also hold a public hearing Feb. 9 on amendments that address concerns about minimum and maximum setbacks and building design standards.

Another proposed amendment was approved, 5 to 0. That amendment removed the requirement that on-site off-street parking be provided for the owners, staff and patrons of a bed and breakfast establishment. A public hearing on that amendment is also scheduled for Feb. 9.

The hearings begin at 7 p.m. at Rockland City Hall.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com