Farmingdale extends hearing on permitting food trucks in village

Farmingdale Village Hall on July 5, 2011. Credit: Alexi Knock
The village of Farmingdale has extended a hearing on whether to permit food trucks until next month after some residents raised objections.
The village last week heard public comment on proposed changes to its code to allow food trucks to operate on condition that operators had an existing restaurant in the village. The food trucks’ hours would be restricted from 11:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.
Residents raised questions about litter, parking, safety, noise and serving a late night crowd of people drinking.
“That’s why we have diners,” said Steve Robey, 69, a retired custodial worker. “If they feel they need a little food ... there are diners in the incorporated village right on the turnpike, let them go there.”
Marc Bynum, the owner of Hush Bistro on Main Street, is seeking the change to the village code so he can operate his food truck on Friday and Saturday nights after his restaurant closes.
“Main Street is changing, Main Street is evolving,” Bynum said at the hearing. “We’re not going to be Brooklyn, we’re not going to be Queens, but we can have a little piece of what we want to do.”
Asked by a resident why he didn’t just keep his restaurant open longer, he said the food truck serves “a different type of food, for a different type of people, at a different type of time.”
After the hearing, Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said the board would study the issue.
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