The town has published several documents which indicated that the town is planning to amend the zoning by-law to permit food trucks in commercial zones, in parks and on any road allowances, including in front of people’s homes.

For example the planner’s report of April 21 said:

The application proposes to define and create provisions for a “restaurant—mobile” and establish where they would be permitted, including two of the Town’s commercial zones as well as public parklands and road allowances owned by the Town.

Assuming this statement was true, I wrote in a post:

The town is planning to amend the zoning by-law to permit food trucks in Commercial zones, in parks and on streets in front of people’s homes.

The town is indeed planning to amend the zoning by-law to permit food trucks in Commercial zones.

But contrary to the words above from the planner’s report, the town is not even contemplating amending the zoning bylaw to permit food trucks in parks and on road allowances.

Residents should still be concerned.

Because they are still going to permit food trucks in parks and on streets in front of homes, but instead of doing it by amending the zoning bylaw, they are just going to do it by ignoring the zoning bylaw.  They will proceed as if the zoning by-law did not exist.  They will simply contravene the zoning by-law, as they did with the 2019 food truck trial.

Many of us were deceived by this tactical move by the town.

If there is no zoning bylaw amendment permitting food trucks in parks and road allowances, then residents cannot very well appeal to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal to reverse or nullify such a zoning change.

When the town does permit food trucks in parks or street allowances, negatively affected residents will be left with few choices other than filing a complaint with the town to the effect that the food trucks in parks or street allowances violate the zoning bylaw.

But then we will be in a situation where the same people who allegedly are violating the zoning by-law (the town) are also responsible for enforcing the zoning by-law.   This presents a bit of an obstacle for residents looking for fairness and conformance to the zoning by-law and conformance to the intent of the planning act.

Craig