Lake in the Hills officials have changed food truck rules for the second time in the past year.
Last fall, officials made some new food truck-specific regulations.
Before those regulations, there was nothing on the books for food trucks, and people who wanted to operate or host a food truck in town had to go through a special event or temporary use permit process each time they wanted a food truck.
In lieu of the permits, food trucks were subject to certain fees, in addition to other regulations.
As warmer weather arrives, officials found an unintended consequence of their regulations: Nonprofits who were aiming to bring food trucks to their events were finding the fees were too expensive.
After the updated regulations were approved last fall, food truck vendors paid a $100 annual fee, plus $50 for each vehicle. Trucks that are cooking food paid that fee plus another $50 per vehicle to account for an annual village inspection.
A couple of fee waiver requests had been approved, but officials have changed the rules to codify those.
Going forward, background checks and the associated $50 fee are waived for open/cooking food trucks. Those requirements still apply for prepackaged food trucks like ice cream trucks.
John Svalenka, community development director, said the rationale for keeping the background check requirement for trucks like ice cream trucks was that their clientele is primarily children and they move around town. Cooking food trucks tend to stay in one location for a long time and serve mostly adults and families, he said.
The village is also changing the food truck regulations to require only the $50 background check fee for prepackaged food trucks and eliminating the $100 annual license fee per food truck vendor.
But Lake in the Hills is keeping on the books the annual fees of $50 per prepackaged food truck and $100 per open/cooking food truck.
The Village Board didn’t discuss the changes, passing them alongside other code updates, including waiving annual fees for fishing permits for disabled military veterans and those with a Class 2 disability.
Illinois defines the latter as any type of disability which renders someone unable to “engage in any substantially gainful activity,” impairs their ability to live without supervision or in-home support services, impairs their ability to perform labor or services that they are qualified to perform, or significantly restricts the labor or services they can perform.
Previously, the village waived daily fishing fees for those groups but changed it to implement an annual waiver to save staff time from repeatedly processing daily waivers.
The Village Board unanimously approved the changes recently.
As food trucks have become more widespread, officials in Lake in the Hills and other communities have grappled with potential regulations. In McHenry, the city began requiring a city permit to operate a food truck in town in 2024, among other regulations.
In Woodstock, officials have previously expressed concerns about food trucks competing with brick-and-mortar eateries. Woodstock does have regulations for food trucks, but officials have also expressed concerns about food trucks operating without a permit.