Greenville Planning Board looking at food truck fees

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Planning Board is in the midst of discussing vendor fees for food trucks and food carts after the prices and timeframes have been brought up at several meetings this year.

A vendor ordinance was first adopted in 2019 and amended in 2023 and this covers food trucks. 

“We do not have a fee for push carts,” Planning Board Chair John Contreni said during a June 18 meeting.

Vendor fees are $50 a day Monday to Thursday and $75 daily Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“Most people choose the three-day,” Code Enforcement Officer Ron Sarol, who issues the related permits, said.

Those looking for longer durations can pay $325 a week for Monday to Sunday, $700 a month or a seasonable rate for five spring and summer months for $1,000.

Greenville has two full-time food trucks and a few others coming in for special events, Sarol said.

Contreni put together a chart with food truck pricing from 23 Maine municipalities. 

“The bottom line is it’s not only comparing apples to oranges but apples to oranges to tomatoes to pumpkins,” he said as the vendor fees and ordinance details vary greatly across the state.

About a third of the towns included in the data Contreni compiled charge a separate application fee, with public hearings being part of the process.

“You apply to be a mobile food vendor and then there’s the annual license fee so there’s two different fees,” the planning board chair said.

Many of the ordinances reviewed require mobile food trucks to be located a certain number of feet away from the nearest fixed restaurant, such as 200 to 300 feet. The vendors are also responsible for their own waste management by collecting and carting away the refuse. 

Naples has a food truck rate of $250 a season for private property, $1,000 a year for being located on private property and $2,000 annually for public property, Contreni said. Some of the towns on his chart make similar distinctions and some do not.

Rangeley’s fee is $1,000 for the season while in Waterville it is $1,000 for half a season and $1,500 for the full season.

“There’s no one clear pattern that emerges,” Contreni said.

“I think $1,000 is too much and $200 is too little,” Planning Board member David Case said.

“Let’s consider this one more time and come back to a recommendation, ” Contreni said, saying he would like to bring forward a proposed new fee structure including the specific amounts.

In other business, the planning board heard from property owner Greg Doughty. 

Doughty would like to combine two adjacent lots he owns in a subdivision so he can build over what currently is the boundary line between the pair of parcels. His permit application would be forthcoming if he receives the go-ahead.

A contractor who lives outside of Augusta, Doughty would like to have an outdoor pavilion area on his subdivision properties. A concrete slab measuring 24 by 56 feet would have a roof and would be used for parties to recognize his employees a few times a year. 

“Instead of putting up tents and having them get blown down and all that we decided to build,” Doughty said.

“The only good dry spot we have happens to straddle the property line by about 20 feet,” he said.

“Usually we have a parcel of land that we subdivide into two or more parcels but in my experience we haven’t taken two or more parcels to put them together as one,” Contreni said.

“At this point it seems like a reasonable request to me,” he said.

Sarol is waiting to hear back from the state and will let the planning board know what he is told.

In his report Sarol said he issued 11 permits in the last two weeks. Three are for new homes, including two duplexes on Lewis Street as well as a single-family home. 

Three vendor permits have been issued by the code enforcement officer, four for garages and sheds and another for shoreland work. Sarol has issued 42 permits so far in 2025.