DELTONA, Fla. – Deltona’s city commission is voting Tuesday night on a proposed ordinance that some food truck owners feel could cut back their business.
Like many businesses during the pandemic, food truck owners like Josh Wiley learned how to adapt to keep their livelihood afloat.
“Myself and two other food trucks started doing a food truck night in the middle of the pandemic to bring people outside and spaced. We were doing food truck first Friday and everybody loved it,” said Wiley, owner of Fatboi Gourmet Potatoes.
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Soon after they started working together, though, Deltona city commissioners started talking at their meetings in the fall about how they felt the trucks should operate.
A state law passed in 2020 allows cities to essentially create their own rules for food trucks’ hours and locations and regulate them with fire-safety standards.
“Some of the things they’re asking for, I understand, it’s more of a safety thing,” Wiley said.
He feels other parts of the proposal, though, could cut down on business.
As part of Deltona’s proposed ordinance, the trucks would only be able to run from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and they would have to get a fire inspection every six months.
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The ordinance would also allow for no more than one truck on a developed property with less than five acres or more than two trucks on a property with more than five acres unless it’s a city-run event. Truck owners could get special permits to do otherwise.
“Somebody will come eat with us and then they’ll go eat with somebody else as well. So, we work off each other,” Wiley said.
Wiley said much of the business is about comradery with other truck owners, which he thinks the ordinance could hinder if it passes.
“You might have two food trucks and a dessert truck or two food trucks and a lemonade truck. So, I don’t think they should stop us from going out, selling food and making our livelihood,” he said.
News 6 also reached out to the city for comment ahead of the vote but did not get a response. The city commission meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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