The City Council is considering a broad expansion of where food trucks can operate in Chattanooga despite reservations by some council members.
The new ordinance, which has already undergone a number of revisions, is set to be considered by the council on July 10.
The ordinance would allow food trucks on city streets - not just on private property.
There would be food truck zones that would be set up after one or more vendor made application and sought approval. The zones could not be closer than 100 feet from a residential property. The applicant would have to get approval from at least 75 percent of the nearby business owners.
They could not operate closer than 75 feet from a brick and mortar restaurant.
"We wanted to make this application driven rather than the city trying to set up food truck zones," City Transportation Director Blythe Bailey said.
Councilman Russell Gilbert indicated he would not favor them in his district, while Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod said her area has some "food deserts" and welcomes them.
"We have been trying to get away from that," said Councilman Gilbert, noting that there have been problems with food vendors in the vicinity of Brainerd Road and Highway 58. He said, "This opens it up for them to be doing more of what they should not have been doing in the first place."
Of a provision allowing approved food trucks to occupy public parking spots, he said, "They will think they had permission to park anywhere. At some point the whole city would be full."
Councilwoman Carol Berz said she was concerned about food trucks getting blanket approve to set up at city parks, including small pocket parks. She asked, "Are they going to automatically be home to hot dog vendors? I'm trying to figure out the sanity of this."
She said those who worked hard to establish the pocket parks in various Brainerd neighborhoods "never contemplated that all of a sudden they would have hot dog vendors. All of a sudden they get this thing plunked down that nobody wants."
She also said enforcement could be a problem, especially since the food trucks often operate on the weekends when city inspectors are off the job.
Donna Williams, who heads city economic and community development, said, "If they go to a park and don't have any customers, they're not going to go back. Ninety-nine.9 percent of the time the market will determine where the food trucks go."
Chelsea Breedy, who operates the Green Tambourine vegan food truck, said it costs from $50,000 to $100,000 to outfit a food truck and she works 60-hour weeks so she said the city is not likely to be overrun with applications.
Councilman Anthony Byrd said, "It will take time to work out the bugs" in the program.