DeKalb city looks to streamline food truck licensing to solicit more mobile businesses

DeKALB - The city of DeKalb is mulling over changes to its food truck licensing requirements in an attempt to solicit more of the mobile businesses to the area.

The topic was presented to the DeKalb City Council this week for preliminary review, although no vote was held on any city regulation changes. Food trucks can often be seen around DeKalb at events and in parking lots or designated areas throughout the day to service passersby.

According to city documents, city officials said sparse food trucks in the DeKalb area are the reason behind the push to update licensing requirements, which hadn’t been updated since Oct. 14, 2019. A year before that, the City Council reduced licensing fees slightly to include $25 per person involved with the truck, $50 for each person listed on the license, $50 for vehicle inspection and a $50 annual licenses renewal fee.

That update didn’t lead to more trucks, however, according to documents. Between 2019 and 2021, only four food truck licenses were issued by the city of DeKalb.

“This is hard to accept,” city officials wrote. “Food trucks are ever-present in other jurisdictions at public auctions, school events, business parking lots, downtown festivals, and everyday street-corner service. As we anticipate a re-configured and more welcoming downtown streetscape and business area, it is time to think again about what makes DeKalb unwelcoming to such vendors.”

Separate food truck license requirements are also enforced by the DeKalb County Health Department related to safe food handling and packaging. Mobile units that prepare food would pay a $280 fee license to the county, and for pre-packaged food offerings only, a $180 county fee.

To encourage more mobile business owners to come to DeKalb, City Manager Bill Nicklas appealed to the council Monday for aldermen feedback to better determine a future vote.

“I am suggesting with this general small package of things that we could proceed with the license from the county,” Nicklas said.

Nicklas said city staff is proposing to consolidate city-required license fees to one payment, to better streamline the process when it comes time to hand in an application. If the license isn’t granted, a fee refund would be issued.

“I am trying to strip it down to the minimum,” Nicklas said.

The city also suggests removing a requirement for a background investigation.

“It is true that around the country there have been instances over time in which mobile unit vendors have put both juveniles and adults at risk,” city staff wrote. “However, the fact is that the persons operating the vehicles often change throughout the season and there is no city staff capacity to routinely check IDs for unit personnel.”

Under the proposed changed, food truck still would be required to report and pay sales taxes. They also still would be prohibited from using strobe lighting to solicit sales, loud music while stationary, or park within any city right-of-ways.