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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION – APRIL 18, 2022 2 but appreciated the short-term license. She would like to see where food trucks could be expanded such as at her church in New Brighton that is allowing a food truck in their parking lot and gaining revenue from renting the space to them. She felt Arden Hills should reduce the constraints on food trucks and possibly gain revenue from renting out city park space. She felt food trucks shouldn’t be allowed for long lengths of time in residential areas. Urbae Hall, 1991 Edgewater, felt the city had done a good job of making the ordinance strict but there may be some room to open it up. However, she would like to see food trucks allowed in residential areas for only a certain amount of time and a certain number of days. She wondered the process to report violations, and what would the fine be for violators. Also, if they allowed food trucks in parks how would they survey people that lived around the park to see if they were OK with it. Councilmember Holmes said she looks at garage sales as being similar to food trucks, and residents are allowed two garage sales per year. She asked Ms. Hall if that type of restriction made sense to her for food trucks. Ms. Hall responded that yes, that made sense. Kate Olson, 3558 Ridgewood Court, said she is the PTO president at Valentine Hills Elementary and they wanted to have food trucks but one of the food truck owners that was contacted told them she wouldn’t come because of Arden Hills’ requirements. She was curious as to why our ordinance seems to be so much more difficult than other cities. She noted that the city of Blaine eased their food truck rules in 2021. Councilmember Holden said the ordinance reads like it always did, that there needs to be an event and food trucks could come. What happened is a neighborhood has a food truck every Friday night and there is about 150 people that come. Many people in the neighborhood have been upset with traffic, smells, garbage and strangers wandering through the neighborhood every Friday night. That’s why they’ve started to address the issue. It’s a good community thing but not everyone wants it in their neighborhood. But the issue comes from saying there’s an event in your front yard every Friday night. Ms. Olson asked how that would be different from a graduation party in the neighborhood every Friday night. Councilmember Holmes responded that grad parties would be by invitation where the food trucks have been open to the public with people coming in from other neighborhoods. Trucks are lined up on the street and people are walking in the street which makes it a different environment than graduation parties. Mayor Grant said he wasn’t interested in food trucks in church parking lots or city parks just because it might be profitable for the city. Possibly for special events, but not as a standing practice. Councilmember Holmes noted that a church could have a food truck on a regular basis because it would be considered commercial. She felt they should look at restrictions on the food trucks themselves because they are already regulated by the State. There are regulations on food trucks,