FAYETTEVILLE — A city alderman expressed empathy Tuesday with business owners who say they’re being threatened by a seasonal shaved ice stand.
“If you have a non-bricks and mortar business that can open up across the street and can run for six months, I think that needs to be visited,” said Bobby Ferrell, Ward 3 alderman, said at the City Council’s meeting Tuesday. “The person that’s in the bricks and mortar business has a lot more liabilities and payments than the person that originally was there for 90 days.”
City code lets mobile vendors operate in one place for up to 90 days each year. City planners said the 90-day limit encourages businesses to test the market before permanently setting up shop.
Planning commissioners recently extended a temporary permit for Shave the Planet at 3600 N. College Ave. through Sept. 25, giving the business another 90 days. The commission ruled the shaved ice stand was compatible with nearby properties and didn’t create an unfair advantage over similar businesses nearby.
Tracy Hoskins’s wife, Celeste, owns a Maggie Moo’s ice cream franchise within 400 feet of Shave the Planet. He asked Ferrell to appeal the commission’s decision to the council. If overturned, the appeal would limit Shave the Planet’s operation to 90 days.
“It’s a matter of doing business all year round and suffering through the slow times only to get to the high time and have another business be able to move in,” he said.
Hoskins, a member of the commission, didn’t discuss or vote on the issue when it came up at the June 11 meeting.
Unlike mobile vendors, bricks and mortar stores such as Maggie Moo’s have to meet local commercial design standards. They have to abide by landscaping requirements and provide restrooms, sidewalks and Americans with Disabilities Act facilities. Mobile vendors aren’t told where to dispose of wastewater, said Jeremy Pate, city development services director. And oftentimes, they’re powered by little more than an extension cord or a generator.
“If you’re going to have all of these regulations, apply them to all the businesses and don’t apply them to just permanent businesses,” Hoskins said. “It should be a fair playing field.”
Katy Siebert, who owns four Shave the Planet stands in Fayetteville and Springdale with her husband, Eric, said the couple’s temporary business on College Avenue isn’t a threat to Maggie Moo’s.
“Shaved ice and ice cream are completely different products and completely different customer bases,” Siebert said Tuesday.
Shaved ice sales drop more dramatically in winter months than ice cream sales, making a year-round structure impractical, she said. Siebert mentioned several costs Shave the Planet bears that more permanent businesses do not, such as storing portable stands in the winter and supplying water on site every day.
City Council members are set to consider the issue at their meeting Tuesday.
At A Glance
Council Action
Fayetteville’s City Council will also consider:
- Establishing a Fayetteville Town and Gown Advisory Committee with the University of Arkansas
- A rezoning request for 31.7 acres on Wedington Drive between 46th Street and Broyles Avenue;
- A $256,490 renovation bid to the Wilson Park Pool
- A $85,300 budget adjustment for installing a traffic signal on Steele Boulevard in front of the Malco Razorback Cinema.
Source: Staff Report