Quieter food truck power at Whitehorse town square comes at a cost

There was a food fight of sorts inside Whitehorse's city council chambers this week, over the cost of powering food trucks at the city's proposed town square this summer.

The proposal would see a section of Main Street closed to traffic, from Front Street to Second Avenue for 11 weeks beginning at the end of June. The street would feature art, live music and vendors — including food trucks.

Stephanie Chevalier, an economic development coordinator with the city, told council at Monday's standing committee meeting the budget for the project is $162,769. Of that figure, $10,000 would cover the cost of converting electricity for the two food trucks allowed to the square per week on a rotating basis.

Trucks would be hooked up to existing city power sources — like street lights or hydro boxes — on Main Street. Converting that electricity would be necessary to meet the power needs of kitchens inside the food trucks. 

Chevaliar said otherwise, the trucks would rely on generators that create both noise and exhaust. 

Coun. Ted Laking said he'd like to see food truck owners pay for the cost of converting electricity.

"I just think that if we are spending money on infrastructure to facilitate competition for existing property tax payers, then it's only fair for them to cover the costs of setting up," Laking said. "Yes, I take the point that there are existing permit-holders for food trucks, however, we are specifically creating a new space and new infrastructure to facilitate a different location."

Mayor Laura Cabott didn't share Laking's concern.

"I look at the bigger concept," she said. "The focus of this was not to sort of enhance opportunities for three restaurants along the block. The idea here was to provide some new economic opportunities in the city ... vibrancy in the downtown core and really to come up with a pedestrian town square."

Taylor De Bruin, who owns a gourmet burger food truck called YXY Smashed, fielded questions from the city in the early stages of planning for the town square. He said having to pay a fee for electricity could be a deterrent to participating.

"It's a pilot project," De Bruin said on a Tuesday afternoon, after a busy lunch rush on the Whitehorse waterfront. "If it was tried and true, the numbers would speak for themselves. But you're asking a vendor to gamble just as much as the city is gambling."

De Bruin says he sympathizes with business owners, and he's grateful for their support in the project — a public engagement survey showed 60 per cent support from businesses — but he wouldn't pay the total cost of an electrical hook-up. 

As a food truck vendor, he said he'd be OK with paying a percentage, depending on what that comes out to.  

"I pay taxes too. We all do. It's just like anything else," he said, pointing to other city-run services throughout Whitehorse. "There's a cost for the Canada Games Centre even though you might not use it."  

Aside from the question of food trucks, Coun. Kirk Cameron asked about parking for people with accessibility needs. Chevalier told him there would be four accessible parking space, and there would also be ramps included in the Town Square zone.