Food Truck Battle Begins Anew In Amherst

(WBEN) Months after the city of Buffalo enacted rules to govern their presence near competing restaurants, one of the Buffalo area's most popular food trucks has been kicked out of the town of Amherst triggering a fresh debate coming soon before that town's town board.

Earlier this week, Amherst Building Inspector Tom Ketchum asked Lloyd's Taco Truck to leave a commercial Park on Ridge Lee Drive because the truck did not have a permit.  

But LLoyds owner Peter Cimino said the town did not have a permit policy for food trucks- and this is likely to trigger the kind of debate in Amherst that raged for months in Buffalo.

Earlier Coverage: Food Truck Owners Say "Let Us Be"
 

Exclusive WBEN Audio On The WBEN Liveline Peter Cimino, LLoyds Taco Truck Guy Marlette, Amherst Town Board

"There is no food truck regulation in Amherst New York.... If you ask the police, they've dialed back a bit which we'd like them to do so we can continue to serve our customers,  but if you talk to the building inspector... he has a different view of a 1993 code and how it applies to us," Cimino tells WBEN.

In December, the town board clarified the 1993 rules and passed a resolution that says the need for "transient business permits"  -- things like carnival food stands-- does not apply to food trucks, Cimino says.

But in the meantime, the situation is s triggering a review by the town board.

"I think a resolution would come to us in the next week or two," said Town Board member Guy Marlette, the town's deputy supervisor.

Marlette says the board is not against food trucks in the town, but is likely to pass a regulation to clarify their status within the next few months.  He adds that no competing restaurants have complained about the trucks-- but Cimino feels some of the resistance is coming from area fast food outlets.

In January, the city of Buffalo enacted food truck buffer zone rules and procedures, after months of debate and review, that pitted some brick-and-mortar restaurants, against the more mobile, less expensive competitors.  The city ultimately allowed them to operate under a registration system.

In the interim, several of Buffalo's food trucks gathered in Amherst in November last year, to mark the Amherst Chamber of Commerce's Emerging Business Leaders' first anniversary. 

Lloyd's has been regularly working in Amherst for several few months,  Cimino says.