Short term regs to prevent vendors

Council voted Monday evening to pass first reading on what it called a temporary ordinance that will prohibit mobile vending stands in the Town Center TC District until agreement can be made on a broader, permanent ordinance.
Town Administrator Gary Parker said the new ordinance exempts those vending stands that are in lawful operation at the time the ordinance becomes law.
“This is a short term, stop gap solution to the issue of regulating mobile vending stands that gets to the core of the problem,” Councilman Malcolm Gordge said. “We need to cover more, but I think this makes it clear what our view is.”
“What you see (the new ordinance) is another iteration of the input I’ve had from Council,” Town Attorney Jim Meggs told Council members about the ordinance he presented for Council’s vote. “But this doesn’t address meal trucks or other vendors.”
The new ordinance amends the current ordinance, defining an itinerant merchant as “any person who engages in selling or offering for sale any goods, wares, merchandise or services of any kind from a vending stand. It also defines a vending stand as “not permanently affixed to real property…and which operates under one itinerant merchant or succession of merchants for more than 30 days in any calendar year within the Town of Blythewood.”
The ordinance also states that vending stands “must be removed from the district each day when not open for business and manned by at least one attendant.”
While the ordinance exempts “any vending stand in lawful operation when the ordinance becomes law,” the coffee vending merchant located in the parking lot of Bits and Pieces consignment shop, and that has been the main focus of the issue for several months, would not fall under that exemption since it is no longer mobile. Owner Matt Beyer told Council at the February Council meeting that the coffee trailer had been made stationery and could not be moved.
“Any lawful vending stand businesses must get a business license from the Town and also meet all applicable building code requirement and DHEC regulations,” Parker said.
“Our intent is for this to be a temporary ordinance,” Tom Utroska said. “We expect the Planning Commission to come up with a long term solution to replace this one.”