by Jen Biundo
A trio of young entrepreneurs hoping to put a snow cone stand in downtown Kyle are getting a chilly reception from city officials
Would-be entrepreneurs Mark LeMense, Samantha Bellows and Dana Shehane say Kyle officials have shot down their attempts to get a permit for the Chilly Penguin, a snow cone stand they hope to open on Center Street. (courtesy photo)
Kyle resident Samantha Bellows, 28, along with her boyfriend Mark LeMense, 29, and friend Dana Shehane, 26, say city staffers shot down their attempts to get a permit for The Chilly Penguin, a Hawaiian-themed shaved ice trailer they want to open on Center Street. Bellows made a presentation to the city council last Tuesday night pleading her case.
“The funny part about all of this is after reviewing all of the ordinances, it would be easier for our company to open a strip club in Kyle than a snow cone stand,” Bellows told the council.
The mobile foot vendor scene has exploded in Austin in recent years, garnering national attention. On downtown streets like South Congress Avenue, pedestrians can order a snack from the window of sleek vintage Airstream trailers with names like Hey Cupcake!, Flip Happy Crepes and Torchy’s Tacos.
Inspired in part by the Austin phenomenon, the group of college friends came up with the idea of The Chilly Penguin a couple of years ago.
Bellows, who works doing fundraising for the non-profit Safeplace, grew up in the tiny town of Rio Vista, Texas and was drawn to the small-town atmosphere of Kyle. Though they’re younger than many local residents, Bellows and LeMense have been active in community affairs and local Democratic politics.
While they didn’t have the money to rent a permanent space, the friends say they thought the snow cone stand would be fun, cost effective and a nice asset to the community during the hot summer months. In January, they scoured Craigslist and found a streamlined white trailer that they covered in surfboard and tiki designs.
Researching Kyle ordinances, Bellows believed the snow cone stand could operate under a peddler’s permit, which licenses temporary merchants in the city. But when the group started on the permitting process, they hit a wall of red tape.
While the city’s municipal code of ordinances references the regulation of “peddlers, solicitors and vendors” and specifically address the permitting of vehicle-based food sales, the fine print in the permit application says all retail businesses must be conducted in a fully-enclosed building on an engineered foundation.
“In my opinion the peddler’s application doesn’t match the peddler’s ordinance,” Bellows said. “I’m allowed to be there as long as I have the permission of the property owner.”
Staffers told her not to bother submitting the application, she said.
“In one day I talked to five departments,” Bellows said. “One person said, ‘You’re not the first to ask and you won’t be the last, but the answer is no.’”
City staffers told Bellows that the only place they would give her a permit was in a city-owned lot in a municipal park – for a rent of $50 daily, or about $1,500 monthly. Additionally, she would have to purchase her own generator. The group currently has a tentative agreement to rent the empty lot at the corner of Center Street and Old Highway 81 for $350 monthly, with electricity and wastewater included.
Kyle spokesperson Jerry Hendrix said there are currently no provisions under the City’s zoning ordinances to allow for mobile food vendors, and the creation of such ordinances would be a policy decision to be made by the city council.
“Since these would be temporary structures with varying hours of operation, they would difficult to regulate and hold to the same rigorous standards of other businesses that use permanent structures,” Hendrix said. “In order to allow a business of this type, the City would need to develop an ordinance that would allow such businesses to operate and to ensure that they do so in a safe manner and in locations that do not present problems for traffic flow patterns and approved land uses.
But some councilmembers say they’re sympathetic to the plight of the Chilly Penguin.
“It seems a little ridiculous that we can’t have a snowball stand in Kyle,” said Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson.
Johnson said she’s communicating with city staff to clarify if the existing ordinances actually prohibit vendors like The Chilly Penguin.
“I’m no ordinance expert, but from the information they’ve given us, I don’t see how they can be labeled a retail business,” Johnson said. “I think that this can be resolved and hopefully we can do it at staff level and not need the intervention of city council.”
Read more:
- Snow days ahead for Kyle? 04/14/2010
- Peddlers prevail? New ordinance allows vendors to operate in Kyle 08/11/2010
- Food hawkers may soon be soaring into Kyle 05/26/2010
- Let there be snow cones 03/24/2010
- Kyle council bans salvia divinorum, K2 03/4/2011
