Brainerd City Council: Longer hours approved for food trucks

The Brainerd City Council Monday night unanimously adopted an ordinance to extend operating hours for food trucks in the Northern Pacific Center.

The original operating hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. are extended to 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. following a request from Roundhouse Brewery and the Northern Pacific Center.

At its May 15 meeting, the council had the first reading of an ordinance to extend operating hours for food trucks in the Northern Pacific Center zone. This reading would have allowed food trucks to operate in the zone from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., an increase from the current hours of operation of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

At the May 15 meeting, council member Gabe Johnson proposed a motion to extend the operating hours to 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The motion failed on a 1-6 vote, with Johnson the sole vote in support of the motion. Instead, the council directed city staff to ask Northern Pacific Center representatives if they would like to extend food truck operating hours past 10 p.m.

Northern Pacific Center owner Dave Hutton submitted a letter to the city dated May 18, asking to amend the operating hours to 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

The council was looking for a letter of support about extending the operating hours to 2 a.m. instead of the initial request to extend the hours until 10 p.m., council President Dave Pritschet said.

"We wanted to see if that was OK with them," Pritschet said.

The council can make a change to the ordinance between the first and second readings, city Planner Mark Ostgarden said. Monday night the council hosted a public hearing on the ordinance change, at which no one spoke.

Mark Lelwica, president of Roundhouse Brewery, originally asked the city to change section 515-66 of city zoning code, titled "Transient Food Unit Overlay District." Section 2 of the code outlines hours of operations for food trucks in different zones throughout the city where food trucks are allowed to operate. He requested extending the original operating hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. A letter from Hutton, dated May 11, supported Lelwica's request.

In downtown Brainerd, food trucks can operate from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. In every other zone, food trucks can operate from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lelwica asked the city to change the hours of operation for food trucks in the Northern Pacific Center zone to 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

According to the Roundhouse Brewery website, the brewery's current hours of operation are noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. The brewery is closed on Mondays.

Monday night was the last meeting for city Engineer Jeff Hulsether, who is retiring after 30 years of service at the city. His last day is Friday. Assistant city Engineer Paul Sandy is being hired as city engineer.

Prior to the council meeting, Shawn Strong, information technology/geographic information systems coordinator, lead council members through a 30-minute training session on Microsoft Surface tablets. The council recently purchased the tablets to replace the paper meeting agenda packets. Strong commented on the difficulty of teaching the seven council members and Mayor Ed Menk about the technology in a short amount of time.

"We're herding cats here," Strong said.

In other business, the council:

Learned the city's membership dues in the League of Minnesota Cities for fiscal year 2018 will be held flat from the previous year. The previous year's dues totaled $12,308. The final cost for fiscal year 2018 may change slightly due to population changes. The dues will be included in the 2018 budget.

Received a written report from Fire Chief Tim Holmes on the department's activity for the month of May. The department received 47 calls for service during the month, with seven of those calls canceled enroute. Of those 47 calls, 22 were within the city of Brainerd.

Approved new contractor licenses for Sig Olson and Sons Plastering, Moorhead; Diamond Tower Service, St. Cloud; Quality Cutting and Coring, Blaine; Project One Construction, Kimball; and JH Sign and Design, Perham.

Approved a contractor payment to Short Elliott Hendrickson for work on the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport utility extension project through April 30 in the amount of $20,659.

Approved a contractor payment to Tri-City Paving for the Jackson Street resurfacing project in the amount of $116,612.

Approved a lawful gambling application submitted by the Brainerd Jaycees for an event Aug. 5 at Kiwanis Park, 1101 East River Road.

Approved an extension of premises application submitted by the Brainerd Eagles Club for an event July 4 at 124 Front St.