[Added 2-10-2020 by Ord. No. 387]
The purpose of this article is to protect the health, safety
and general welfare of the general public through the regulation and
licensing of mobile food establishments and mobile food establishment
operators, pursuant to the relevant provisions of Chapter 11.1 of
Title 5 of the General Laws, as amended.
The following words shall have the following meaning when used
in this article.
A.
"Department" means the department of business regulation.
B.
"Director" means the director of the department of business regulation.
C.
"Event permit" means a permit that a city or town issues to the organizer
of a public mobile food establishment event located on public property.
D.
"Fire safety code" shall have the meaning set forth in chapter 28.1
of title 23 and shall include any regulations promulgated thereunder.
E.
"Mobile food establishment" means a food service operation that is
operated from a movable motor-driven or propelled vehicle, portable
structure, or watercraft that can change location. Mobile food establishments
specifically includes, but is not limited to, food trucks, food carts,
ice-cream trucks/carts, and lemonade trucks/carts.
F.
"Mobile food establishment event" means an event where an individual
has ordered or commissioned the operation of one or more mobile food
establishments at a private or public gathering.
G.
"Mobile food establishment operator" or "operator" means a person
or corporate entity who or that owns, manages, or controls, or who
or that has the duty to manage or control, the operation of a mobile
food establishment.
H.
"Mobile food establishment vendor" or "vendor" means a person who
prepares, sells, cooks, or serves food or beverages from a mobile
food establishment.
I.
"Municipal mobile food establishment permit" means a permit issued
by a city or town to a mobile food establishment operator that possesses
a current state mobile food establishment registration.
J.
"Registrant" means the holder of a "state mobile food establishment
registration."
K.
"RIDOH" means the Rhode Island department of health.
L.
"State mobile food establishment registration" or "registration"
means a registration issued by the department which authorizes a mobile
food establishment to operate in the state.
M.
"Temporary mass gathering":
(1)
Means an actual or reasonably anticipated assembly of five hundred
(500) or more people that continues, or reasonably can be expected
to continue, for two (2) or more hours per day; or an event that requires
a more extensive review to protect public health and safety because
the event's nature or conditions have the potential of generating
environmental or health risks.
(2)
Includes, but is not limited to, "special events" as defined in the
food code regulations promulgated by RIDOH, and festivals and concerts.
(3)
Shall not include an assembly of people at a location with permanent
facilities designed for that specific assembly.
No person shall operate a mobile food establishment in the Town
of Charlestown without first having obtained a mobile food establishment
license from the Town Council, unless specifically exempted pursuant
to Chapter 11.1 of Title 5 of the General Laws, as amended.
A.
A mobile food establishment license application shall be made in
writing to the Town Council. Application shall be made upon a form
to be supplied by the Town Clerk. Such application must include the
following information:
(1)
Proof that the applicant has been issued a permit to make sales at
retail by the State Division of Taxation and approval from the State
Health Department, if applicable and has been issued a current and
valid state mobile food establishment registration.
(2)
Written approvals of the Police Department, Building Official's
Office and any other applicable Town Department.
(3)
The exact days, hours of operation and proposed route of operations,
if any or specific location if proposed to be operating stationary,
for the proposed license.
(4)
A detailed description of the nature of goods and/or articles to
be sold.
(5)
The exact location of the proposed business, to include the plat
and lot number where the business is to be located on property owned
by other than the applicant, a sworn statement must be obtained by
the owner consenting to the application.
(6)
The current zoning designation of the property.
B.
It is further required that any person applying for a mobile food
establishment license under the provisions of this article shall sign
a hold harmless agreement indemnifying the Town of Charlestown, its
officers, agents and employees from any liability arising out of or
in the course of his or her business or the granting of a license
for same.
C.
Upon receipt of a complete application for a mobile food establishment license, the Town Council shall place the application down for consideration at their next regular Town Council meeting agenda for action. The Town Council may issue a license only if in their sole discretion that they find that the requested license will not disrupt the general health, safety, or general welfare of the Town and pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 11.1 of Title 5 of the General Laws, as amended, and as otherwise set forth in Section 128-4, herein.
D.
Persons licensed under this Chapter shall remove all paper, food,
cardboard, wood or plastic containers, wrappers or any similar type
of litter deposited by the licensee or his/her customers. The licensee
shall provide and use a waste container, of not less than ten-gallon
capacity and not more than thirty-gallon capacity for the placement
of such litter. The licensee shall remove all waste and litter generated
by the licensee and his or her customers on a daily basis.
E.
The Town Clerk, upon a decision of the Town Council to grant a mobile
food establishment license shall issue the license, the term of which
shall expire on December 31 in the year when issued.
A.
Upon receipt of the application by the Town Clerk's Office,
the Chief of Police or his or her designee shall undertake and complete
within 30 days an investigation of the applicant's proposed operation
route or stationary location.
B.
The Town Council, may, after a hearing thereon, either approve, reject
or revoke such license or any application therefor if the operation
of the mobile food establishment within the town violates the town's
land use regulations, zoning, or other ordinances in relation to the
operation of a mobile food establishment. In reviewing any application
for the issuance, renewal or revocation for a mobile food establishment
license, the Town Council may consider any or all of the following
factors:
(1)
The potential for traffic congestion.
(2)
The need in the community for the proposed license.
(3)
The zoning of the parcel in question and its compatibility with the
proposed application.
(4)
The unsatisfactory moral character or business responsibility of
the applicant.
(5)
Any other conditions which may prove to be inimical to the public
health, safety and welfare of the Town.
C.
A license issued under this article may be revoked by the Town Council
after notice and hearing for, but not limited to, any of the following
causes:
(1)
Fraud, misrepresentation, omission or false statement contained in
the license application.
(2)
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statement made by the person in
the course of carrying on his or her business as a peddler or hawker.
(3)
Any violation of this Chapter.
(4)
Conviction of any crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.
(5)
Conducting the business of hawking or peddling in an unlawful manner
or in such a manner as to constitute a breach of the peace or to constitute
a menace to the health, safety or general welfare of the public.
D.
Persons whose license has been revoked under this section may not
reapply for a license within one year of the date of revocation.
The fee for a license issued pursuant to this Chapter shall
be fifty dollars ($50.00).
A.
No license is required from persons selling farm or garden produce,
including flowers, and persons selling works of art or crafts of their
own making at an art or craft show or exhibit, are not a mobile food
establishment or mobile food establishment operator and are not subject
to the licensing requirements of this article.
A.
No person shall operate a mobile food establishment within the Town
except between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. or unless authorized
to operate additional or different hours as part of a separately licensed
special event at a town-owned facility.
B.
The Chief of Police or his or her designee is hereby authorized to
submit to the Council a list of streets and public ways throughout
the Town which, in his opinion, because of excess traffic and congestion,
are unsafe for the public welfare and safety for the selling or offering
for sale or merchandise by mobile food establishments. The Town Council
will give final approval. Upon approval, such list will be on file
in the Town Clerk's Office.
C.
At no time shall a mobile food establishment impede the free flow
of traffic. The Chief of Police or his or her designee is hereby authorized
to suspend operation of mobile food establishment at any time and
for such periods of time on streets and ways where conditions exist
that require him, in his opinion, in the interest of public safety,
to do so without a prior request to the Town Council.
D.
No mobile food establishment shall operate within 500 feet (five
hundred feet) of any business establishment in the Town which sells
the same product.
No license issued pursuant to the provisions of this article
shall be transferable, nor shall it authorize a person other than
the one to whom it was issued and named therein to act there under.
A person holding a license issued pursuant to the provisions
of this article shall carry it with him at all times while engaged
in such business and shall produce it when required by any policeman
or member of the Town Council, and failure to do so shall be grounds
to revoke his license.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article shall
be subject to revocation of license and/or the issue of a fine not
to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00).
