NORFOLK, VA – The push for food trucks downtown has yielded a compromise that will allow the vendors to serve while keeping them away from traditional restaurants.

Food trucks will compete for six metered parking spaces through a lottery that will be held in June, under a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council. Assistant City Manager Ron Williams said the food trucks could be serving in downtown by mid- to late June.

It’s a cautious approach, but even so, it is a good starting point, said Evan Harrell, owner of the Hubcap Grill food truck.

Harrell said he would like to see the city one day add more spaces downtown and adopt a “wide-open” approach on the periphery of downtown, especially in the arts and design district on Granby Street, north of Brambleton.

For now, the permitted trucks will rotate among the six spaces on a weekly basis during lunchtime. Outside of lunch, the vendors can choose any of the six designated spots on any given day. Those spaces will be located on Freemason Street, Plume Street at MacArthur Square, Bank Street near MacArthur Square and north of Brambleton on Granby Street.

Each vendor will pay an annual fee to offset the lost parking revenue. For a food truck, that will mean $1,390 per year; for pushcarts, the fee will be $790.

Find the entire article by Jillian Nolin at The Virginian-Pilot <here>