Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Columbiana City Council held a first reading for an ordinance on food trucks and approved a resolution for no right turns on red on Main Street during a meeting on Tuesday, April 15.

During a meeting on April 1, the Columbiana City Council discussed the possibility of prohibiting right turns on red lights on Columbiana Main Street after safety issues were brought up following a discussion about food trucks on Main Street. According to Mayor David Mitchell, the possibility of no right on red on Main Street was entertained last summer but never progressed further due to a general ambivalence at the time by the council.

At the meeting on April 15, the council unanimously approved a resolution prohibiting right turns on red for Main Street after further discussing the issue. According to the passed resolution, signs will be posted stating “No Right Turn on Red” at the intersection. Lt. Sasha Knighten shared that there will likely be a grace period for residents to get used to the change with only warnings before the Columbiana Police Department starts issuing citations for violations.

The city of Columbiana did not need to pass an ordinance to adopt the change due to the city having an ordinance in place that adopts the state law which states that a city is “authorized to prohibit any such right turn against a red signal at any intersection after determining that such right turn is not reasonable or safe.”

Prior to the resolution’s passage, Council member Ricky Ruston asked if it would be possible to overturn the resolution in the future in the event that it negatively impacts traffic. Mitchell confirmed that the council can rescind the resolution if necessary but expressed that he doesn’t believe it will be an issue.

“What I have observed in the mornings at that intersection—and I’m sure other people may have observed other things—there doesn’t really seem to be a significant problem with traffic backup except from the traffic light back up south Main Street toward the museum and the old courthouse,” Mitchell said. “If traffic is moving north on south main street, we generally don’t have a problem with a lot of people turning right.”

Mitchell said his biggest concern with right turns on red on Main Street was in regard to individuals pulling onto crosswalks in order to see past blind spots to make the turns safely.

“I’ve got a bunch of photographs in my office that the police department took last summer when we kicked this around,” Mitchell said. “The issue is that you cannot see to make a right turn unless you pull through the cross walk and that creates more of a hazard for pedestrians than it does for automobiles… And even in those locations where its more open because of where the stop bar is, unfortunately most people don’t stop at the stop bar, they go over it and stop at the crosswalk.”

In other business, the Columbiana City Council held a first reading for a new ordinance to establish standards and definitions for food trucks. The proposed ordinance came about after the council discussed issues with food trucks on Main Street during a meeting on April 4.

“This will actually rescind the existing ordinance,” Mitchell said. “Mobile food unit operators shall be required to obtain an annual business license by the city of Columbiana prior to commencing any food sales. The prior ordinance had a requirement for both a permit and a business license and we were not collecting the permit or issuing permits. So, we’ve removed that from the new ordinance.”

The new ordinance requires that mobile food units be located off the public right of ways and that units shall only be located and operated in areas that are zoned non-residential with the exception of temporary operation for specific events.

“The big change here is in our prior ordinance, the city council had to theoretically approve the locations for food trucks,” Mitchell said. “This ordinance takes that burden off of the city council and puts that burden on the food truck operator, in that (they) shall have to have approval of the property and business owners for each location in which they want to operate.”

The new ordinance stipulates that a mobile food unit shall not be located within 200 feet of the main entrance of the nearest restaurant during the restaurant’s posted hours of operation. Mitchell explained that the 200-feet limitation is not restricted to a straight line. Additionally, no mobile food units shall be left unattended or stored at any time on the vending site when vending is not taking place.

The proposed ordinance requires that mobile food units shall not occupy parking spaces required to fulfill the minimum requirements of a principal use.

“Our zoning ordinances require for certain types of business (to have) a certain number of parking places based upon the occupancy of that business,” Mitchell said. “So, if you’re if a business and you’ve got just the minimum number of parking places that the zoning ordinance requires you to have for the occupancy, then you can’t put a food truck in there.”

The city of Columbiana will publicly display the proposed food truck ordinance for residents to view and provide input on before the council votes on the ordinance in the future.

“This ordinance is going to be posted on the website and so that will obviously give folks the opportunity to comment,” Mitchell said. “We’ll go through the next reading, and if necessary, make changes that we think are appropriate.”