We recently reported about a couple of Boston-area food trucks deciding to open brick-and-mortar restaurants, and now we have learned that yet another truck will soon have a permanent spot as well.

According to a post on its Facebook page, the people behind the Pennypackers Food Truck will be opening a brick-and-mortar eatery in Somerville, with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals approving their plans to open a restaurant in the Magoun Square section of the city. The post indicates that the new spot could be open sometime this summer.

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Mei Mei are also going to be opening permanent dining spots, with Roxy’s being in Allston and Mei Mei’s being in the Audubon Circle section of Boston.

Pennypackers, which debuted its truck in the summer of 2011, offers soups, salads, and sandwiches, and the owners now have two trucks–one stationed by the Marine Industrial Park in South Boston, and the other by Boston University. Their website can be found at http://www.pennypackersfoodtruck.com/

http://bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com/2013/05/pennypackers-food-truck-to-open-brick.html

Sofia Adams for the Tufts Daily
The Somerville Board of Aldermen last month approved an ordinance that requires food trucks to apply for licenses from the city, among other regulations.

The Somerville Board of Aldermen on Oct. 25 passed an ordinance to regulate the operations of food trucks in the city.

The debate to write an ordinance began approximately eight months ago and brought to the Board’s attention that the city had no rules in place for food trucks, according to Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane.

Potential food trucks in Somerville must now comply with requirements outlined by the Board and submit an application for a license, according to Alderman at Large Bill White. Food trucks must also undergo a public hearing with the Board, which will look at a number of factors before issuing approval, including the location that the food truck applies to be stationed at, health and safety standards and business hours.

Each food truck will be reviewed on a case−by−case basis, Trane said.

Until the passage of the ordinance, food trucks were allowed to operate at any time or location, Trane said. The Board now has more of a say in where food trucks may go and their hours of operation, according to Ward 4 Alderman TonyLafuente.

For example, food trucks now are not allowed to operate outside the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. unless the owners receive a special permit. In addition, food trucks must remain in one location and are prohibited from moving around, Trane said.

“They can’t keep bouncing all over the place or go willy−nilly in a different spot,” he told the Daily.

Food trucks must also conform to health and safety requirements before receiving a license, White said.

Lafuente added that the Board of Aldermen seeks to avoid complaints about generator noises and food smells.

“We’re going to control as much as we can,” he said.

The Board will also evaluate the impact that a food truck might have on existing businesses in specific locations. One of the main concerns that propelled the debate for a new ordinance was food trucks’ potential threat to local businesses, White said. The ordinance will favor restaurants that have been in business for a long time, and food trucks will not be allowed in Davis Square in order to preserve the local eateries.

Before the passage of the new ordinance, food trucks received their licenses under a different ordinance designed for hawkers and peddlers, which was not specific to food trucks, according to White. Very few licenses were issued under that ordinance, he added.

“It didn’t have the same extensive regulations that we have now,” White told the Daily. “Some of the food trucks may have had licenses from the state and didn’t think they needed one from the city.”

Current food trucks with an existing license will be grandfathered in. When the license expires, they will be required to apply under the new ordinance, White said.

Moe Stewart, the owner of Moe’s BBQ Trolley that has been in operation for seven years and stations itself on campus at Packard Avenue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, said that his food truck will not face any new changes with the ordinance. He said he is in favor of the new ordinance, noting that food trucks used to have to move around every 20 minutes.

“I told [The Board of Alderman] they had to have [the ordinance],” Stewart told the Daily.

Although the new guidelines state that food trucks must have special permission to operate after 9 p.m., Moe said the new ordinance will not pose a problem for the operation of his food truck in the evenings.

“I’ve always had permission,” he said.

Since the passage of the new ordinance, no potential food trucks have applied for a license yet.

“But [the process] shouldn’t be bad,” White said.

 http://www.tuftsdaily.com/ordinance-passes-to-regulate-food-trucks-1.2793223#.UKo15uSmg8N

By Chris Orchard | PATCH

Food trucks line up at the SOWA Open Market. Credit Chris Masci

It’s back to the drawing board for a food truck ordinance after some on the Somerville Board of Aldermen expressed skepticism or open hostility toward the measure on Thursday.

A proposed ordinance that would regulate food trucks in Somerville was received with skepticism when it came before the entire Board of Aldermen Thursday night.

Leading the charge against the measure was Ward 1 Alderman William Roche.

“Food trucks throughout the city of Somerville is not an image that I think promotes what we want the city of Somerville to be. I don’t think they do any public good,” the alderman said.

Roche suggested food trucks might be acceptable at “special events only. Forth of July fireworks. Parades. Youth sports.”

Others on the Board of Aldermen were more on the fence about the matter.

Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston said, “What I was looking for … was more designation of areas” where food trucks would be permitted. She expressed concern about bricks-and-mortar businesses, many of whom “shelled out tens of thousand’s of dollars for a liquor license and [are] paying so much in taxes every year.” (Somerville Patch is not aware of any food truck that would sell liquor.)

On the other hand, she said, “I’m not totally against this. In fact, I think food trucks might be a great addition to serve certain portions of the city.”

Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan asked, in regard to Ball, Magoun and Porter squares, which he represents in part, “Do I want a food truck pulling into one of those squares where I have established eateries?”

Roche and other aldermen expressed concern about who would be operating the food trucks and asked for more stringent CORI—Criminal Offender Record Information—background checks on operators.

Bruce Desmond, an alderman at large, agreed that more stringent background checks should be built into the ordinance, but said, “I do think food trucks have an added value in this city.”

After four months, back to the drawing board

The proposed ordinance came before the entire Board of Aldermen Thursday after spending over four months in the Legislative Matters Committee getting drafted.

Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz, chair of that committee, came to the ordinance’s defense Thursday.

She said that if the ordinance isn’t passed, food trucks would be allowed in Somerville with few limits. As matters currently stand, food trucks are licensed by the state, and since Somerville doesn’t regulate them, they can operate as they please, she explained.

She also noted the ordinance gives full power to the Board of Aldermen to approve each individual food truck. Some on the board thought such power could open the city up to lawsuits for discrimination should a food truck operator challenge a denial of license.

Gewirtz said of food trucks, “They are small businesses, they are innovators, the come into a community and bring something maybe that community does not have.”

By the end of the debate, Board of Aldermen President Thomas Taylor decided to send the matter back to committee, asking Gewirtz to chair a Committee of the Whole meeting so the whole Board of Aldermen can discuss the measure further.

Gewirtz said she would do it, but said, “I feel a sense of reticence, because if the goal is to make it so onerous for food trucks that they wouldn’t bother applying or that it would be so difficult for them to proceed … I feel uncomfortable doing that. Many of these food trucks are small, startup businesses.”

More on the Somerville food truck ordinance

Somerville Eyes Food Trucks With Eagerness and Caution

Poll: Do You Want Food Trucks in Somerville?

Somerville Patch Readers Want Food Trucks, Food Trucks Want to Operate at Night

http://somerville.patch.com/articles/aldermen-balk-at-prospect-of-food-trucks-in-somerville#photo-9437715