Lee preparing an ordinance to allow food trucks
Danny Carter
LEESBURG — The food truck craze is making its way into Lee County — once it negotiates a slight detour.
Paul Wells told Lee County commissioners he wants to operate a food truck featuring barbecue in Leesburg. In fact, he’s planning to take delivery of his new food truck today. Wells is ready to start cooking, and commissioners want to accommodate him. Unfortunately, the county is not structured to give him the necessary business license.
Lee’s county code does not include provisions for food truck businesses. That issue took up a good portion of a brief, 35-minute County Commission meeting Tuesday night.
The end result is that commissioners were in agreement that county staff members should work to adjust the code to allow food trucks. In the meantime, Wells said he’ll take delivery of his food truck and sell barbecue in other areas where he is licensed.
“I want to do this here in Lee County,” Wells said after the meeting. “In fact, I want to eventually open a barbecue restaurant here. This is what I’ve had experience in in Alabama before I moved here.”
“Food trucks have become quite popular all over the country,” said Commissioner Billy Mathis. “I’d like the staff to research the matter, find a good ordinance and bring our ordinances up to date.”
“I’m in favor of it; I just want the ordinance to fit the needs of our county,” said Commissioner Luke Singletary.
The commission also approved the first reading of a change to county code which will allow the commission to skip conducting a public hearing for each alcoholic beverage license sought in Lee County.
County Manager Ron Rabun said the practice of conducting a public hearing for each alcohol license requested in “outdated” and creates an unnecessary expense for the county considering the legal advertising that must be purchased for each hearing.
“We’ll still do our same due diligence,” Rabun said. “We’re not going to circumvent any requirement.”
Commissioners also noted that members of the public will still have an opportunity to express concerns about any alcoholic beverage request.
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