Photo by Kurt Kaiser, via Wikimedia Commons
Kiest Park could host an experimental mobile-food-vendor park this spring and summer if the idea gains City Council approval.
The city’s Department of Convention and Event Services pitched Pacific Plaza in Downtown and the Bath House at White Rock Lake as sites for the “Mobile Food Vending Zone Pilot Program,” which would launch in May and run for two months.
Pacific Plaza is still on the list, but the Bath House already has a program for mobile food vendors, and the idea was unpopular with neighbors there anyway.
After a presentation at City Hall this week, Councilmember Casey Thomas asked why our side of town wasn’t considered for the pilot program.
“I know the residents south and west of I-30 would like to have the opportunity,” he said.
City staff later changed its recommendation to Kiest Park, which Councilmember Carolyn King Arnold had suggested, instead of the Bath House.
The project is part of an effort to provide opportunities to restaurant entrepreneurs by offering them low-cost public spaces to set up shop. Food trucks would be allowed, but not required. The park will allow vendors with carts or booth set-ups, which normally require a separate permit.
During the 60-day pilot program in May-June, the city would keep track of litter, noise, traffic, hand-washing and restroom use, as well as what effects the food parks have on nearby restaurants. Those metrics would be used in determining how to expand the program across Dallas.
City Council could approve the two locations next month.
