A Lake Worth Beach bar's patrons are fuming after the city shut down food trucks there, following a complaint from a real estate developer who says he is only looking out for tenants at his North Dixie Highway building.
The Locals Only Neighborhood Bar at North Dixie and 13th Avenue North will no longer host food trucks after a code enforcement officer told its owners on Oct. 2 that city law prohibits them there.
The developer, Doug Peters, on Sept. 30 sent pictures to the code enforcement department of mobile eateries operating in the bar's parking lot, records show.
"Food Truck Almost every night once the city code office shuts down," Peters reportedly wrote in his complaint to the department. He added: "I hope this can be cited soon."
Three food
trucks had "popped up" along Dixie after one opened in the area with no pushback, he said.
Dispute may push food truck owner to run for Lake Worth commission
Code enforcement did not cite Locals Only, as the officer on the case did not see a food truck operating there during the city inspection. But the officer told the owners that mobile food vendors could not operate east of Congress Avenue, general manager Hannah Klein said.
West Palm Beach real estate investors Scott Diament and Robert Samuels own much of the city block, including the Locals Only building, through various companies.
Lake Worth Beach zoning law contains a legal definition for a "mobile food vendor," but a city spokesperson did not reply when asked which specific city ordinances that Locals Only was accused of violating.
"We never block sidewalks or right of ways, and we have a large parking lot to ourselves," Klein said. "Everyone in the community has loved all of the events we have been putting on and having a steady, reliable food option right in the neighborhood."
When Klein broke the bad news to one of those popular food truck owners, Brad Costa of Twisted Smoke BBQ, she texted him, "it is a huge blow to our business as well." Locals Only has a permit for a kitchen, but not the space, Klein said.
For Costa, who lives in the city, it means potentially losing out on thousands of dollars from hungry bar patrons watching NFL games and other events.
When Costa learned Locals Only banished his mobile business after Peters' complaint, he said he became upset enough to consider running for City Commission in next March's election.
"I've had it with the way Lake Worth treats businesses," he said. "We're going to let one person dictate what's good for the community?"
Peters, who lives just outside Boca Raton, balked at the idea that he has special influence on Lake Worth Beach's municipal government. He and his family, through various corporations, own dozens of commercial properties throughout Lake Worth Beach.
"I don't know anyone special in the city," Peters said. "It's not like I'm their enforcer and I'm doing it."
Peters said three tenants alerted him about the allegedly illegal food trucks, which is why he filed a complaint with code enforcement. He declined to name those tenants.
"You have people paying a lot of rent in all these places. They're all aware the city outlaws food trucks," Peters said. "I have nothing against food trucks. I own a yard where food trucks park," he said, but operators dissatisfied with code enforcement's orders "would have to speak to the city to change the law."
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Food trucks banned from Lake Worth lot after building owner complains
