By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Ignoring a unanimous recommendation by the planning board, St. Cloud City Council members voted 4-1 Thursday to allow mobile vending within city limits.

The new ordinance requires that mobile vendors be approved as part of a building’s site plan. The council at a later date will consider more specific rules and regulations related to these vendors.

Many mobile vendors previously complained about hardware giant The Home Depot’s exemption from the threat of a mobile vendor ban.

“I don’t believe Home Depot should be allowed to do this and not our own citizens,” Councilman Russell Holmes said.

The Home Depot includes outdoor vendors in its site plans when seeking approval to build a store, a request that building or property owners will now have to include in their own plans.

“Our construction business is so down (that) this has helped us become even,” Sharon Barber, whose family owns BarberQ in front of Rife’s Market, said. “It’s our livelihood right now.”

Kenny Rife, who owns the grocery store, is supportive of the Barber’s food-vending unit.

“We’re going to try to get (a site plan) going,” he said.

Councilwoman Mickey Hopper, the lone vote against the new ordinance, has long voiced her displeasure at the council’s inability to limit the type of vendors allowed for fear of a lawsuit. Hopper has said the town would look like a “circus” with vendors selling everything from rugs and velvet paintings to hot dogs and barbecue on the side of the road.

“You have to remember, we’re not just talking about food,” she said Thursday. “My job up here is to do what I think is best for our city.”

Other council members encouraged embracing the recent food vendor craze becoming popular in many cities and urban areas.

“There are mobile vendors everywhere. It is commonplace in a lot of major cities,” Councilman Tom Griffin said. “I have a problem with unregulated mobile vendors.”

Resident Claudio De La Cruz,  who ate dinner Thursday night at The Other Place Café, which is a restaurant and not a mobile vendor, said he opposed the council’s decision.

“Get yourself a place and pay rent,” he said of the mobile vendors. “It makes the city look trashy.”