The discussion about what to do with businesses operating out of trailers will begin on Thursday at the Town Council’s Management & Planning session. Mayor Dan Allers said Monday we have to come up with an end date.
Businesses like La Ola, Yo Taco, Rude Shrimp and others have been operating out of temporary trailers since shortly after Hurricane Ian. The Town Council wanted island businesses to be able to operate while they formulated their plans to rebuild.
Tunaskin operated a retail trailer until their building re-opened. The Beach Bar has been operating on the beach out of a trailer and recently submitted plans to rebuild. The Whale serves alcohol, provides live entertainment and brings in food trucks at their location. Whale ownership recently had their plans to rebuild approved.
The Town Council will consider giving other businesses now operating out of a trailer a deadline. Those businesses may have to show the town some sort of rebuild plans or be told by the town to close shop. It may be 3 years from the storm (19 months from now), or it may be sooner. Several scenarios were discussed at the Town Council meeting Monday.
There is a town ordinance on the books now that prohibits any businesses from operating out of a mobile trailer. However, shortly after the storm, the town council passed ordinance 23-05 to allow beach residents to live in a trailer while they rebuild their homes. They also wanted to help local businesses get back on their feet. The problem is 23-05 does not specifically address temporary trailers for businesses and this Town Council blamed previous Town Attorney John Herin for not including language in the resolution to address businesses.
What to do with mobile businesses came to a head recently when Times Square property owner Terry Persaud was granted a permit for The Queen of Weed, which to some Town Council members went outside the intent of what they were trying to do; help existing businesses get back on their feet. The Queen of Weed was not an existing business before the storm and Persaud did not sell their products in his restaurant. Town staff said Persaud followed all the rules to get his permit.
Former Mayor and current LPA Chair Anita Cereceda told the council on Monday, “Don’t let the big picture of redevelopment be sidetracked by allowing mobile businesses that were not here to continue to proliferate.” She told the Town Council they need to take a stand on how to move forward. “There needs to be a line drawn in the sand.”
Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said the ordinance needs to be corrected. “We need to discuss what can and cannot be done. The current ordinance is inadequate.”
One of the challenges this Town Council faces is if they revert back to the original ordinance on the books that prohibits all mobile businesses from operating on the island, La Ola goes away, Rude Shrimp goes away, The Beach Bar goes away, Yo Taco goes away, MoJoe’s goes away. Mayor Dan Allers said, “We will have an empty Times Square.”
Another challenge this council will face is what if one of those businesses comes forward and says we like the way things are going now, the money is flowing, and the cost to maintain these units is very low, we’d like to make this permanent. How does this council deal with that?
On Thursday at 9AM the discussion begins.
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