CHARLOTTE — Charlotte street vendors and brick-and-mortar business owners met Tuesday night to discuss the future of local vending regulations, one day after a new ban on street vending went into effect in the NoDa neighborhood.
The community input session focused on whether the city should expand restrictions to other high-traffic areas and introduce criminal penalties for illegal operations.
The meeting addressed two primary questions: whether street vending regulations should extend beyond the existing Congested Business District to neighborhoods like NoDa and South End, and if the city should implement a Class III misdemeanor enforcement option for illegal vending.
The discussion comes as local officials seek a balance between supporting small-scale vendors and protecting the investments of traditional storefront owners.
Business owners at the meeting expressed concerns regarding the disparity in costs and regulatory requirements between permanent restaurants and mobile vendors.
Tyler Koch, owner of PIE.ZAA Pizza, told participants he supports some street vending but believes the city must improve how it mandates and separates vendors to avoid nuisances to brick-and-mortar businesses. Koch, whose business began in Asheville, noted that he postponed a planned vacation to attend the session.
Koch highlighted the financial and procedural hurdles required to maintain a physical storefront.
“We spend a lot of money and it’s very difficult to get where we are,” Koch said. “And it’s been infiltrated by what I call the South End State Fair of illegal food vendors that don’t have to go through any of the processes we go through to have food for people, especially late night crowds.”
Street vendors and their allies attended the meeting to defend the industry’s role in the local economy.
Jaleak Gerlitzki, owner of The Gerlitzki Store, argued that the discussion requires nuance because different types of vendors contribute differently to the neighborhood.
Gerlitzki specifically distinguished between food vendors and the artists who operate in the area.
“The vendors in NoDa that’s creative and artists, and we make NoDa what it is and why people flock and move to that area,” Gerlitzki said. “So that conversation is something that should be held outside of the food vendors.”
The session also included technical questions regarding how new rules would be managed. Participants asked city staff who would be responsible for following up on civil citations if the regulations changed.
The city currently limits most vending oversight to the Congested Business District, a designated area that does not currently include the full extent of neighborhoods like NoDa or South End.
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