Category: Business

BLYTHEWOOD – A loophole in the Town’s code of ordinances has paved the way for the owner of Grace Coffee, a vendor housed in a small turquoise and white mobile home on Main Street in downtown Blythewood, to do, on Monday evening, what no other business in town has been able to do – receive a certificate of occupancy (COA) without meeting the Town’s architectural review standards. The business owner, Matt Beyer, did not attend the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting.

It appears the Town’s ordinance regulating architectural review in the Town Center District does not have well-defined regulations for mobile vendors.

“We were asked to give a COA without guidelines,” BAR Vice Chairman Jim McLean told The Voice. “We (the BAR) did not want to do that because a COA is permanent. We grappled with it, and we did all we could do, considering the Town has no architectural review standards in place for mobile vendors,” McLean said. “The Town was caught off guard.”

Instead, the BAR agreed to grant a one-year conditional COA to the business to give the Town Council time to draw up standards for mobile vendors.

At issue is the definition of ‘structure’ in the Town’s code of ordinances.

“Structure’ is very broadly defined in the code, yet this mobile vendor is a ‘structure,’ and because it is in the Town Center District, it must have a COA from this Board for its exterior appearance,” The Town’s Planning Consultant Michael Criss told the Board.

While brick and mortar buildings in the Town Center District must adhere to guildelines for paint color, lighting, whirlygigs and other exterior architectural features, Grace Coffee was not required to meet any of those standards, Criss said.

However, McLean said the coffee vendor’s COA is based on how it currently stands and that it cannot make further (substantive) changes in its appearance going forward without coming back to the BAR.

Newly installed Board Chairwoman Pam Dukes then asked how the sign allowances would be applied to Grace Coffee.

That, too, turned out to favor the vendor over the town’s brick and mortar businesses.

“It’s clear what the regulations are for permanent structures that are affixed to the ground,” Criss said. “The landlord gets one monument sign freestanding out in the front yard and one wall sign on the facade facing the street.”

Those signs, according to the Town’s code must meet specific size and quantity guidelines.

“But it’s not crystal clear what the sign limitations are on a mobile unit such as a trailer,” Criss said.

Grace Coffee usually has four signs displayed – one at each entrance, one on the trailer and a menu sign in front of the trailer.

“Suppose they were frying chicken in there,” McLean asked, referencing a discussion the Board had earlier in the meeting with Kentucky Fried Chicken officials who are looking to make major exterior renovations of the KFC in downtown Blythewood.

“I’m trying to go back and grab the fairness. We just turned down Kentucky Fried Chicken about what they can and can’t do (with signage),” McLean said, pointing out that brick and mortar businesses in the Town are held to higher standards.

The discussion has been ongoing ever since Grace Coffee pulled in to town last December and set up shop in the parking lot of Bits and Pieces consignment store.

“When we initially talked with them (Grace Coffee), they said they were going to take the trailer away each night. But now it sits there,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told Council in January. “It’s another example of how a vending stand comes in and is just left there. It’s frustrating.”

At the February meeting, Beyer added another dimension to the mobility issue, telling Council members that the stand was no longer mobile, that it could not be moved.

During the coming year, prior to the expiration of Grace Coffee’s one-year COA, the issue of standards for mobile vendors is expected to come before the Planning Commission for recommendation to Town Council.

Council Seeks to Add DHEC Permits, Insurance, Zoning Requirements

BLYTHEWOOD (March 2, 2017) – Town Council Monday night made another abortive pass at an ordinance regulating itinerate merchants and vending stands within the Town Center District (TCD). Unlike last month’s attempt, however, when Council faced considerable public backlash for its efforts, Monday night a handful of citizens – including one merchant who would be directly impacted by the proposed rules – spoke out in favor of some form of regulation.

“There really needs to be regulation so roadside services, roadside stands that come up, whether they’re selling food or products, that they’re fully compliant with all the town’s regulations,” Tom Duka told Council during the Citizens’ Testimony portion of the meeting. “When somebody builds an actual brick-and-mortar structure to have a store or restaurant or facility, they’re making a definite investment, but some of these vending stands that are coming through town are very temporary in nature. We want to make sure that people who make an investment in town by actually complying with the zoning, by complying with the building regulations, are the ones who are most protected, as long as they are following regulations as well.”

Scott Opolyn, owner of Scotties Restaurant, told Council he was concerned that mobile food vendors may not have obtained their appropriate inspections from the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Opolyn also said any new regulations should ensure that mobile vendors are properly insured and that they meet the town’s zoning regulations.

“I personally think that having food trailers that would come here is great, but you don’t want to make Blythewood a Gypsy city, either,” Opolyn said. “Which means we have to set rules and regulations.”

The key word in defining an itinerate merchant, Opolyn said, is “mobile,” and Council’s proposed ordinance would require such merchants to remove their vending stands from the TCD at the close of each business day. But a loophole could appear, Opolyn said, if Council failed to also regulate hours of operation.

“If they’re open 24-hours a day, seven-days a week, well I guess there’s nothing to move,” he said. “But it still comes down to cleanliness. How are they going to clean their trailers? They’re mobile. They don’t carry a lot of water. Where do they use the bathrooms? What about the people who are eating there and drinking there if they’ve got to go? You don’t want them urinating in a jar and pouring it outside their trailer. It’s not a public toilet. This is where we live.”

Matt Beyer, owner of Grace Coffee Company, said he was not opposed to Council regulating mobile vendors. The iconic coffee trailer at 208 Main Street, which has found itself at the center of the debate, would be directly impacted by any new laws governing itinerate merchants and vending stands.

“I think there should be some regulations,” Beyer said. “You should regulate us, to a degree. I think we all in this room need to figure out how to work it out and create a win for all of us.”

Although the company was indeed a mobile enterprise when they opened for business three months ago, Beyer said, they have since become fixed to their spot on Main Street.

“We look mobile, but we’re not anymore,” Beyer said. “What we have inside, it’s not just a hassle to move, it’s not possible. So it’s either we’re here or we’re not.”

Councilman Tom Utroska, who was absent from last month’s meeting when the initial first reading on the ordinance was postponed, said Monday night that he had “a real issue” with the proposed rules.

“Let’s say we have somebody that comes in a purple and red and orange truck that wants to park in the Town Center District,” Utroska said. “We won’t let people build buildings that look like that, but we’re going to say it’s OK to park your truck there. It kind of seems like it’s a slap in the face to the business owners. I think there needs to be some standards.”

Utroska also said he felt Council should ensure that mobile food vendors have any necessary DHEC permits, and that mobile vendors of any sort should have liability insurance.

The proposed ordinance presented Monday night included one minor addition to the version presented last month – a grandfather clause that would allow any vending stand in lawful operation at the time of first reading to continue to operate without regard to the daily removal requirement. But Utroska said he thought existing vendors should be given 60 days to comply.

“I don’t think we give them perpetuity,” he said. “I am not happy with this ordinance. It doesn’t say anything about them having to have a DHEC permit, it doesn’t say anything about insurance. It doesn’t say anything about the Town Administrator being able to decide whether or not you can park in a certain location, that the color may not fit in with the zoning. There’s a lot of things I don’t see in the ordinance.”

Jim Meggs, the Town’s attorney, reminded Council that the original model ordinance he had presented to them included a veritable laundry list of detailed regulations, but Council had rejected that as too stringent. The version presented last month, he said, had been pared down to simply requiring vendors to pull up stakes are the end of each business day.

“Somewhere there’s a happy medium,” Utroska said. “I think there has to be some modicum of restriction. I do think they have to move every day. And if their colors are so garish they wouldn’t be allowed, they shouldn’t be here.”

Mayor J. Michael Ross asked Utroska to work with Meggs to develop a broader ordinance. A third version, Utroska agreed, should be ready for Council’s March 27 meeting. Council’s agenda for Saturday’s annual retreat also includes discussion of the ordinance. The retreat begins at 9 a.m. at The Manor.