What if Alexandria allowed more food trucks in Old Town?

Old Town Alexandria is very short on food trucks, thanks in large part to rules that place severe limits on where they can park. If the city made Old Town more open to food trucks, it could both stimulate business and encourage more people to walk around the area.

Alexandria has three zones where food trucks are allowed. These are at the Braddock Road, King Street, and Eisenhower Avenue Metro stations. None of these zones is ideal to attract customers by the waterfront in Old Town, so I asked Greater Greater Washington contributors for their suggestions for additional locations.

The map below shows the spots they suggested as potential food truck zones, on top of the three that are currently approved. The purple icons mark where the city already allows food trucks and the green icons show contributors’ suggestions.

Note: aside from the geographic zones, there are technical rules about where food trucks can go as well. For example, they have to be at least 20 feet from a restaurant, the streets they park on must have at least 66 feet of right-of-way, and they can only park in areas that have fewer than four parking spaces in a row. Contributors didn’t account for these factors when making their suggestions.

Contributors Adam Froehlig, Ned Russell, and Canaan Merchant suggested locations in Old Town next to Market Square and City Hall. These places are great for several reasons: parking is plentiful, there is a lot of foot traffic from office workers on weekdays, and the area is very popular with tourists and residents on the weekends.

Merchant suggested that the city auction off prime spots near the Torpedo Factory. While restaurateurs may balk at seeing food trucks from their storefronts, food trucks aren’t likely to be a director competitor to Old Town’s higher end restaurants.

In 2014, the Alexandria City council rejected two spots: on the 300 block of Madison Street and by Montgomery Park. Reversing this decision would give office workers in North Old Town more options for lunch. These two spots are also the only spots toward the waterfront in North Old Town.

Use private and public lots, and make part of King Street car-free

Currently, food trucks are only allowed on private lots with the permission of the property owner. The city’s criteria for choosing a food truck zone includes the stipulation that they can’t be in an area with more than 4 parking spots in a row, which would disqualify public parking lots.

Payton Chung suggested that Alexandria allow food trucks to park in its public parking lots, and that the city work with local businesses to encourage the same in private parking lots.

Using parking lots makes sense, since food trucks only need to take up a few hours during the workday and only a few spots. During weekends, these lots may even be empty, and having a dedicated spot along King Street and near the waterfront would likely help food trucks find more customers. One effect could also be more customers checking out the shops nearby.

One such potential spot is at 1312 King Street, which was one of two small used car dealerships that closed in 2014. Mike Grinnell suggested that this would be a good temporary location as long as the site doesn’t have a tenant.

Canaan Merchant suggested making King Street car-free from North Fairfax Street to the waterfront on the weekends, an idea that Jonathan Krall has written about here on GGWash. This would alleviate concerns that food trucks would take away valuable parking and allow for people to have more room to walk, which would be especially nice now that spring is back and restaurants reopen their outdoor dining areas.

Survey residents to see whether they still oppose food trucks

In 2015, Alexandria surveyed residents, workers, and business owners to gauge their feelings about food trucks. Respondents were primarily concerned about traffic, sidewalk crowding, and parking, and opposition to food trucks likely influenced the city council’s decision to restrict where they could operate.

Alexandria conducted another survey in 2016 to gauge residents’ feelings about the three food truck zones and found that the zone near the Eisenhower Metro station was the most popular. Having a food truck there is great for workers by Eisenhower, but anyone not nearby who wants to eat at a food truck is still left in a lurch.

Perhaps residents are more open to the prospect of food trucks closer to the waterfront now. Alexandria could find out by surveying residents again, with expanding access to food trucks in mind.

“While I understand residents’ concerns, they have to accept the fact that there is a significant amount of office space north of King Street close to the Old Town waterfront. The city must take into account office workers needs, i.e., the need for fast casual/food truck dining options, in this area as well as residents,” said Russell.