By Pepper Fisher

SEQUIM – If the City Council adopts the recommendations of the Planning Commission, Sequim will soon open up the downtown commercial district to food trucks.

A motion passed unanimously at Tuesday night’s Planning commission meeting to recommend that City Council hold a public hearing to adopt the new Mobile Food Service Vendor ordinance as written by the Commission.

The new ordinance basically says that food truck vendors will be able to apply for a permit to operate in non-residential zones. It says a vendor is allowed only to locate and operate its business temporarily on a developed property with a paved parking lot, and a vendor must leave the premises at the end of each day of operation.

The City Council is scheduled to take up the issue at a public hearing during their next regular meeting on July 10. Previous discussions by the Council indicated that a majority was in favor of allowing food trucks in the downtown area.

Caleb Messinger, owner of the Southern Nibble food truck, single-handedly led the effort to get this done. He says he already has his eye on a spot downtown.

“Hopefully, we’ll be right on the corner of 3rd and Washington across from White Cup coffee. So, kind of where the Artisan Market sets up and stuff on the weekend.”

We asked if he was aware of any other food truck vendors that were planning to do the same if the ordinance is adopted.

“You know, I’m not quite sure. I just know that the people that I’ve talked to, like in the past, they’re like, ‘Oh man. I wouldn’t, just because of the restrictions’, and they thought I was crazy because I was doing it.”

Apparently, Messinger isn’t crazy, but a man with the right idea at the right time.