Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Clerk’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Jonathan Douglass, Assistant to the City Manager/City Clerk
DATE:	April 18, 2013
RE:	Street Vendor License Application – Simply Franks

Please place this item on the April 23, 2013, City Commission meeting agenda.

ACTION:      Approve a street vendor license for Simply Franks Co. at the southwest corner of 10^th Street and Massachusetts Street, if appropriate.

City Code Regarding Street Vendor Licenses

The City Code allows street vendors (perhaps more appropriately named sidewalk vendors) to sell food or flowers from certain locations downtown between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. after receiving a street vendor license from the city. The eligible locations are the public sidewalks at:

• Either southwest or northeast corner of 7th and Massachusetts Streets;
• Either southwest or northeast corner of 8th and Massachusetts Streets;
• Either southwest or northeast corner of 9th and Massachusetts Streets;
• Either southwest or northeast corner of 10th and Massachusetts Streets;
• West side of the 800 block of Massachusetts Street near the center block cross walk area.

There is currently only one licensed street vendor, and they are located on the northeast corner of 9^th and Massachusetts. Only one street vendor can be licensed at each location at one time.

The City Code requires street vendor license applicants to seek signatures of approval from all businesses within 75 feet of their proposed location, and to submit such signatures to the City Clerk’s Office with their license application. The City Code does not necessarily require that all businesses within 75 feet of the proposed location actually approve before a license can be issued. The allowable street vendor license locations in downtown are all within the public right-of-way, which is owned and regulated by the city. In the case of street vendor licenses, the City Commission makes the final determination of whether a street vendor will be allowed at a certain location.

Simply Franks Street Vendor License Application

Jordan Kivett, doing business as Simply Franks Co., has applied for a street vendor license for a hot dog stand on the southwest corner of 10^th and Massachusetts, in front of the Masonic Temple building currently occupied by the Greenhouse Culture church. Mr. Kivett contacted the businesses within 75 feet of his proposed location and obtained the approval of the church, but a representative of Encore Café objected to the license and Mr. Kivett was not able to reach an authorized representative of Louise’s Café to obtain their permission. City staff therefore requests that the City Commission hear this license application on their regular agenda to allow public comment and City Commission deliberation regarding issuance of the license. City staff notified by mail the property owners and businesses within 75 feet of the proposed location that the City Commission would consider the license application at the April 23, 2013 meeting. As of the posting of this memo, no comments had been received from the notified property owners or businesses.

It is worth noting that a street vendor license at this location has been approved by the City Commission previously, over the objection of an adjacent property owner. In 2010, the property owner who objected to the issuance of the license was the landlord of one of the restaurants within 75 feet of the street vendor.

ACTION:      Approve a street vendor license for Simply Franks Co. at the southwest corner of 10^th Street and Massachusetts Street, if appropriate.