LAS VEGAS, NV – Members of the Las Vegas City Council’s Recommending Committee backed an ordinance to create a 300-foot buffer zone (the length of a football field) between restaurants and food trucks.

Restaurant owners had wanted an 800 foot separation, but it was rejected by the recommending committee. Councilman Stavros Anthony introduced the 300-foot buffer, which was approved by a 2-to-1 vote.

The vote followed more than an hour of debate at the recommending committee where restaurant owners made impassioned pleas for an 800- or 1,000-foot buffer zone they said would protect their businesses.

Bar + Bistro restaurant owner Wes Isbutt, who also uses the surname Myles, said not only should the distance between food trucks and restaurants be greater, but the buffer zone should apply to special events too, meaning trucks shouldn’t be able to park directly outside an event organized by someone else.

“When the food trucks are allowed to, and I am sorry for using this term, to pillage on or to leech on other events that are going on, it is an unfair playing field,” Isbutt said.

The committee will make the recommendation to the full city council at the meeting set for August 15. The council could approve, amend or deny the recommendation.