Looking back on legislation

Food trucks
Nearly a year after Chapel Hill began accepting applications for food truck permits, the town still only has one food truck.

Regulations the town passed in January for food trucks require vendors to pay more than $800 annually to operate in private lots.

And only two parking lots — one at the Chapel Hill News office at 505 W. Franklin St. and the other at The Daily Tar Heel office at 151 E. Rosemary St. — are available to food trucks right now.

Baguettaboutit, which sells french-bread wrapped sausages, is the only food truck to buy a permit. Franklin Street late-night classic Time-Out is also applying for a permit.

Town Council member Lee Storrow has asked the council to review the food truck ordinance in an upcoming council meeting.

Rogers Road
With the closing date of the Rogers Road landfill looming, county and town officials are looking for ways to pay reparations to the neighborhood that bore the burden of living next to a dump for more than 40 years.

A temporary community center that was set up by the Rogers-Eubank Neighborhood Association was shut down in August for violating fire and safety codes.

The Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood Task Force, made up of representatives from Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County, reaffirmed its pledge to build a community center in November.

The task force has also discussed providing sewer service to residents, though no action has been taken on the issue.

The Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to set aside $650,000 for the start-up of the center, and Carrboro and Chapel Hill also pledged money.

Towing/cellphone
An attempt by Chapel Hill to limit the use of cellphones while driving ended in a lawsuit and the ordinance being overturned.

The Chapel Hill Town Council voted to ban the use of both handheld and hands-free cellphones on the road in March. The ban was scheduled to take effect in June, but an injunction filed by George King, owner of George’s Towing, and approved by Judge Orlando Hudson blocked both it and a revised towing ordinance the council passed in February.

Hudson later ruled that the cellphone ban was unconstitutional, and the towing ordinance invalid until 2013 at earliest. Thomas Stark, King’s attorney, said the ordinance unconstitutionally attempted to regulate trade.

Chapel Hill currently has no towing ordinance in place.

Some residents have complained about “predatory” towing practices. The town council will likely revisit the issue in early 2013.

Contact the desk editor at
city@dailytarheel.com.