PERRYSBURG, OH – The city may add a permitting process for food trucks, but it won’t approach the level of protection that a downtown business owner requested for restaurants.

The law director is drafting legislation at the request of council’s Finance Committee that may be refined further at a meeting scheduled for next week.

A group discussion on the matter last week touched on what provisions could be legally enforced, as well as how the rules will likely be shaped by the Constitutional protections of people who want to operate food trucks.

The issue surfaced in Perrysburg earlier this year after Rick Ruffner of O-Deer Diner said he is put at a disadvantage by competing against food-truck businesses that don’t face overhead similar to restaurants, namely property taxes. Ruffner, who helps fund some events downtown, said he would consider ending those events if food trucks are allowed to participate without supporting the community in the way he does. He suggested that they either be required to purchase an expensive permit or be restricted to a once-weekly event in Woodland Park, away from the downtown area.

Find the entire article at sent-trib.com [here]