PARIS — Selectmen on Monday rejected a couple’s plan to set up a hot dog stand in Moore Park this summer.
Robert Carey and Rachel Webber of West Paris requested to bring a hot dog cart to the High Street park six days a week to serve hot dogs, chips and canned drinks, according to a letter submitted to the Recreation Committee.
Following the recommendation of the Recreation Committee not to allow it, selectmen unanimously opposed the cart. In a letter to the board, committee Chairman Dana Chandler said the committee was concerned allowing the cart could lead to “opening ourselves up to a park full of vendors every day.” The letter also expressed concerns about power and water usage, but proposed inviting them to set up the cart during the Moore Park Arts Show in July.
Selectmen Robert Wessels and Robert Kirchherr agreed that single-day instances of the hot dog cart being open would be OK, but both opposed the cart as a permanent fixture.
“If we’re planning to do this,” Town Manager Amy Bernard said Monday, “We should develop a peddlers’ ordinance, so that we’ve allowed certain areas of municipal land that are allowable for this use and so that there’s a license fee.” She said the town would have to ensure it has no liability for the cart or the food sold.
Kirchherr said the closest thing Paris has to addressing the issue was the non-standard use form, which allows, for example, an ATV club to use a stretch of road to connect two parts of a trail. He said that form doesn’t address liability issues, however. He said he wanted to speak with the Recreation Department to get their views.
Selectman Gerald Kilgore said the town has rules on how the park can be used, and said they should consult those before allowing any new use of the park.
Webber said by phone Tuesday that the 6- by 2-foot cart had no water or electricity needs. It uses a propane tank to cook the hot dogs, she said. All trash would be hauled home to West Paris, she said. She told the Recreation Committee that she and Carey are in the process of getting a license through the State of Maine to sell food.
A Harpswell native, Webber said Brunswick has four spots in the downtown park for such stands, and said Paris could use a similar system. She said she’s spoken with parents at the Moore Park playground and was told she and Carey got a “great reception.”
She said she even offered to donate some baseball equipment to the Recreation Department, but was turned down.
Webber, who left the meeting before it began Monday after she was told the cart wouldn’t be allowed, said she was willing to pay a fee to the town and said she couldn’t see why the town, which was in bad financial shape, would turn down a source of income.
“They’re struggling money-wise,” Webber said. “They’re turning away somebody who’s willing to pay.” She said she and Carey are looking into setting up the cart in Norway instead.
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