Downtown food truck plan unfolding

• WHAT%3A Learn the latest details and share feedback on the city's proposed pilot for street vendors downtown.
• WHEN%3A Noon to 1%3A30 p.m. and 5%3A30 to 7 p.m. Thursday
• WHERE%3A Central Library%2C 1000 Grand Ave.

The aroma of food truck cuisine will soon waft through downtown streets, but before it does city officials want public input on the idea.

A food truck festival is planned for this spring to launch a pilot program that will allow mobile vendors in metered parking spaces downtown. City officials will present the latest details Thursday during two meetings at Central Library.

The city wants feedback from vendors, restaurant owners and potential consumers before presenting a final plan to the City Council.

The new guidelines for downtown would temporarily replace a strict policy that limits food trucks to private property and includes requirements for parking and bathrooms.

After two months of regular meetings, here are the nuts and bolts for the new downtown guidelines:

• Mobile vendors would operate from metered parking spaces.
• An on-street mobile vending permit would be created. It would cost $550 per year and vendors would still need to plug the parking meter during operations. The current transient merchant permit ($550 per year) would still be required for operations on private property.
• Vendors would not be allowed to operate between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.
• Vendors would be restricted from operating within 100 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant entrance or exit.

Assistant City Manager Kandi Reindl said the latest plan does not create designated food truck zones, as previously discussed, but rather it outlines select locations where they would be prohibited. One restricted area would likely be Court Avenue between Second Avenue and Fourth Street.

The pilot program area would roughly extend south from Interstate Highway 235 and east to west from the Western Gateway Park to the Iowa State Capitol.

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"We're just concentrating on downtown," Reindl said. "It could expand. We have to see what we learn from this."

The pilot program would remain in place until October.

Reindl said the City Council is expected to discuss the issue at a Feb. 23 work session. It could be on the agenda for consideration as soon as March 9.

If approved, the city plans to kick off the program with a food truck festival near Western Gateway Park in late April or early May, Reindl said.

Food truck meetings

WHAT: Learn the latest details and share feedback on the city's proposed pilot for street vendors downtown.

WHEN: Noon to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: Central Library, 1000 Grand Ave.