SEABROOK — Selectmen voted this week to ban food carts and food trucks at Seabrook Beach starting July 1. 

The board voted 2-1 to not issue any new permits for food trucks after receiving complaints last summer. Selectman Aboul Khan cast the only vote against changing the policy with board members Theresa Kyle and Ravi Ravikumar voting in favor of the ban.

The decision changes a long-time policy of the town permitting a limited number of food vendors to set up their carts in the town’s parking lot along Route 1A, at a cost of $25 for a 12-month license to operate.

For years that meant only one or two mobile food carts: a well-known hot dog vendor, who died a while ago, and for the past five years, according to Town Manager Bill Manzi, another food cart that sold food with a Caribbean flavor.

But last year, when a Sal’s Pizza truck arrived, complaints came from some concerned about the truck’s size, the number of parking spots it took up in the lot, as well as the amount of trash it created, with pizza boxes overwhelming trash receptacles. 

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In an interview after the meeting, Manzi said last year he spoke with the individual running the pizza truck. That resulted in the operator organizing a trash pick-up event that cleaned the area, Manzi said, but one day doesn’t cure the problem.

Last June, Seabrook resident Charlie Preston raised the issue of the appropriateness of having large food trucks at the beach. Preston said the pizza truck wasn’t the usual food cart that selectmen permitted for decades. It was so large, he said, its graphics were similar to billboards, which are not allowed along Route 1A, a federally-designated “scenic by-way.”

At the time, Kyle said, she had heard from a number of residents who weren’t pleased about the situation, urging the board to revisit its food cart permit policy before the 2022 summer season.

At Monday’s meeting, Kyle was adamant. She said allowing private food cart owners of any size to set up their businesses on town-owned land – like its beach parking lot – is inappropriate. Allowing any business to use public property to make money at the fee of only $25 a year – while other Seabrook restaurants and businesses pay taxes, sewer and water fees – is unfair, Kyle insisted. If a food cart owner wants to set up at the beach, Kyle suggested they seek out private property.

Khan, however, was concerned with the break in tradition, since the town has allowed food carts for decades in the Seabrook Beach District. He pleaded that perhaps the town could allow one.

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Ravikumar tried to formulate a compromise between Kyle and Khan but nothing seemed to click.

Manzi explained the Board of Selectmen would have to pick a winner if numerous vendors applied for the one permit Khan wanted to issue, a process no one appeared to like.

Ravikumar made the motion not to issue permits for food vendors this summer, which won by majority, and the deal was sealed.

According to Manzi, the two licenses issued to vendors last summer are good until June 30, but after that there should be no food trucks or carts in the town parking lot.

Manzi said summer ice cream trucks weren’t caught in the food cart permit ban, as long as they keep moving and don’t set up a stationary berth in the town parking lot.

In another beach related policy decision, at their March 21 meeting the selectmen unanimously decided to renew last year’s beach parking placard policy with no alterations. Each town property owner can be issued one parking placard upon request. Last year that amounted to between 725 to 750 who were allowed to park on Seabrook Beach District roadsides.

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The town’s parking lot along Route 1A will again be designated for Seabrook residents only. Any vehicle parking there without a residents’ sticker on the windshield is subject to a $200 parking fine.

Although Ravikumar floated the idea of issuing a second placard to property owners at a cost of $500 each to raise money for town coffers, the notion didn’t gain traction. At least not at Monday’s meeting.

“They might discuss that idea again at an April meeting,” Manzi said. “They might kick it around and see what they think.”