The Langley City Council unanimously approved on Friday night a two-day stay of an order to desist business issued Thursday to food truck owner Joe Wierzbowski.
The city suspended the man’s mobile food vendor license for a violation of the ordinance’s maximum vehicle length. City code dictates that mobile food vehicles not exceed 20 feet, and Mayor Fred McCarthy said the city measured it at 25 feet, while he also said that the owner said it was 23.5 feet.
McCarthy proposed a two-day stay of the desist business order so that food purchased in anticipation of a busy Independence Day holiday weekend would not go to waste.
Wierzbowski was not present at the special session, which was announced by 6:30 p.m. July 2, just under the 24-hour notification requirement.
Council members unanimously supported the motion and spoke at length about ways to improve or amend the ordinance that would allow food trucks to operate.
“All of us are pro-food truck,” Councilman Rene Neff said. “Our problem is with the size.”
The issue came to a head the past week after a First Street business owner filed a formal complaint to City Hall and several elected officials in Langley. David Price, owner of edit, cited several problems with the first and second locations where the truck was parked, both at the intersection of First Street and Anthes Avenue.
Mayor Fred McCarthy said he is investigating several of the claims and allegations Price made, including that the city knowingly issued the license to a truck that was in violation of the length restriction.
“I thought about this complaint and thought it was significant,” McCarthy said at the council’s special session Friday night.
The truck was relocated again to a spot on Second Street, in front of US Bank in a loading zone only used Monday-Friday.
“That’s the best place to put it because it’s not bothering anybody,” Councilman Bruce Allen said.
The Langley City Council was already scheduled to discuss the food truck ordinance at its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 6 at City Hall.
