LEBANON — Concerns about traffic safety and a loss of parking spaces due to food trucks near Colburn Park are inspiring the City Council to revisit its rules for downtown vendors.

This year, four trucks have permits to operate on South Park Street, including Black Magic Mexican, Loaded TotzNuff Said, Taste of Punjab and Upper Valley Tropical Sno.

If operating simultaneously, the four vendors would take up all 30 parking spaces along the south side of Colburn Park, City Manager Shaun Mulholland said at the City Council meeting last Wednesday.

To provide more space for all four vendors to operate this year, city staff have relocated two food trucks to the opposite side of South Park Street, where the Upper Valley Music Center is located. This new configuration is intended to point trucks’ service windows oriented toward the sidewalk.

But some councilors rejected the new configuration, saying that placing vendors on both sides of the street creates additional congestion and obstructed views for drivers.

“I was very surprised to see the food trucks appear on the (opposite) side of the street there,” said Councilor Karen Liot Hill. “In the last couple of weeks, I have heard significant concerns from people throughout the city.”

Residents have complained about poor visibility, compounded by an increase in pedestrians crossing the street to access the vendors, Hill said in a phone interview.

“I just saw (today) two cars having to break quite suddenly in front of me because two pedestrians appeared in that crosswalk,” Assistant Mayor Clif Below said on Wednesday.

Currently up to five food truck vendors can be permitted on South Park Street. The city designates two areas, spanning a total of 14 angled parking spaces, for vendors to occupy between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, according to city code.

A city plan in 2017 estimated these spaces were sufficiently sized to accommodate five vendors, whose vehicles must not exceed 18 feet in length.

However, some vendors leave their food trailers attached to their towing vehicles, resulting in them using more than twice as much space as the city had intended, Deputy City Manager David Brooks told the City Council on Wednesday.

“We have found that, because of (the limited space in the parking area), the vendors cannot always (unhook) their towing vehicle or get it back into the area (to reattach),” Brooks explained.

Also, most food trucks have the service window on the passenger side, which means customers must approach from the road side instead of the sidewalk.

“Which means that people who are ordering or waiting to place an order are standing very close to moving traffic,” Brooks said.

To accommodate larger vendor setups, city staff proposed amending the municipal ordinance to reduce the number of vendors allowed on South Park Street to four and increase the maximum vehicle length to 54 feet.

Because vehicle traffic is one way on South Park, the plan would still have two food trucks whose service windows open toward traffic.

“I get that it’s a one-way street but it’s bad practice to have people standing in the middle of the road,” Councilor George Sykes said. “There are so many distractions on that street when you try to drive through there, from the crosswalk to the emergency vehicles to people with kids playing in the park … it’s just very disconcerting for a lot of folks.”

Councilors said they will need more time to discuss their concerns before any vote to revise the ordinance. This process may include a site walk downtown to look at the administration’s proposal — or to consider alternative, nearby streets to relocate some of the food trucks.

The city held a lottery this year to award permits on South Park Street because there were more applications from vendors than available spaces, Brooks said.

“(This location) is popular because of the volume of traffic through there and the visibility that (the vendors) have,” Brooks added.

The council directed Mulholland to temporarily move all the food trucks back to the left side of South Park Street, starting July 1, when the spring permits expire and the summer permits take effect. This will allow the four vendors to renew their permits and continue operating while the council determines a new plan.

The council has not yet scheduled its next discussion of the ordinance. Its next meeting is on Wednesday, June 19 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.