Food trucks will be coming to Brewer next week after city officials removed barriers that previously kept them from setting up shop.
Four public parking lots in the city will become trial spaces for food trucks, and four vendors have reached out to the city to secure reservations. No Bones Grill, a food truck that offers smashburgers, sandwiches and boneless wings, will be in two different locations on July 8 and July 10 as the first truck to go through the updated application process.
The city is looking at all of its ordinances to see what can be updated to increase the number of small businesses in the community by streamlining application and permit processes. The changes are based on community input and what is possible when factoring in state laws, Assistant City Manager Jason Moffitt said.
The city is listening to both residents and business owners when factoring in how changes are being made and what impact they’ll have.
“Maybe we can’t do everything [businesses and residents want], but we want them to be heard,” Brewer City Manager Eric Glidden said.
Brewer made changes to the food truck ordinances by changing the fee structure and are looking to change time limits and streamline the application process, Glidden said.
The four spaces across the city are located in parking lots at the intersection of South Main Street and Maple Street, the Wilson Street and Main Street intersection, the Brewer Parks and Recreation building on Wilson Street, and at Indian Trail Park.
The spots are on trial to better understand if they’re good places for food trucks to bring in business and if they disrupt local traffic. Regardless of how the trial ends, food trucks will continue to be in Brewer, Moffitt said.
The fee change is the start of changing ordinances that Brewer officials are currently working on, Moffitt said. The waterfront ordinances are now being looked into as a way to increase businesses and foot traffic downtown.
The addition of new businesses will ease residents’ tax burdens and give them more things to do downtown, Moffitt said.
“When you look at the costs going up over the last number of years, it’s not fair to have individual taxpayers bearing the brunt,” Moffitt said. “If you can bring in a bunch of businesses that are new taxpayers and help level that field out a little bit, it makes things more affordable.”
