FAYETTEVILLE, AR – Fayetteville aldermen last week passed new regulations that should make it easier for mobile vendors to operate around town.

The new laws, brought forth by Alderman Matthew Petty, include changes to the previous mobile vendor regulations, but also establish specific rules for roving food trucks and businesses that operate inside “mobile vendor courts.”

Changes to previous laws

Vendors who want to operate a temporary business on private property in one specific location can now stay there for six months with a permit from the city’s planning division. The previous law only allowed vendors to stay in one spot for 90 days before they had to apply for an extension from the Planning Commission.

Those businesses would not be allowed to match or duplicate the primary food or beverage sold by a permanent business located immediately adjacent (and on the same side of the street) as their mobile vending unit. In other words, a taco stand couldn’t operate directly next door to Taco Bell. They could, however, serve Coca-Cola or rice since neither food is a primary product.

Vendors who wish to stay in business longer than six months would have two options.

They could either get a permit for a new location at least a quarter mile away, or they could apply for an annual permit from the Planning Commission to stay in their original location.

Regardless of which option they choose, vendors must pay a $100 permit fee each year unless they operate inside a mobile vendor court such as the Yacht Club on College.

Mobile vendor courts 

Property owners can create a mobile vendor court on their land if they’re approved for a Conditional Use Permit.

Find the entire article at fayettevilleflyer.com <here>