Carmel pushing back on state law to allow street vendors

We’ve all seen them: stands selling anything from hotdogs to jewelry. Street vendors are most commonly found in big cities like San Francisco and New York City, but business owners and workers in Carmel said they’re not welcome.

“Honestly, I don’t want them in front of our business,” said Lisa Butler, manager of Wicks and Wax.

The new state law went into effect on January 1, 2019. It requires all cities to allow street vending, but the City of Carmel wants none of it.

Tuesday night, the city council adopted an ordinance to limit the number of permits available to vendors. “The reason that we are limiting the total permit number is because we do have narrow sidewalks in this city. We determined that, in order to operate, the sidewalk needs to be about 10 feet wide. Only about 29% of our sidewalks are at that width,” said Marc Wiener, Community Planning and Building Director for the City of Carmel.

The city said the town’s limited sidewalk space interferes with public health, safety, and welfare concerns. These are three reasons in which Senate Bill 946 allows for restrictions to be made.

Businesses have their own reasons for not wanting vendors around. “It’s a quaint town. It’s a cute town. People love it. We want to keep our character. That’s what people come here for. Not to be in a Vegas or something like that,” said Butler.

The town’s character is something many residents and long-time visitors also hold near and dear. “I think street vendors would take away from the atmosphere of Carmel. There’s great shops here that have everything that vendors would be selling,” said visitor, John Moitoso.

A few see no harm in vendors setting up shop. “I think street vendors would be okay here in Carmel, as long as they’re confined maybe to a certain area, like the park up here,” said visitor, David Mesch.

The city’s ordinance will allow permits for a maximum of 3 vendors in the popular, Devendorf Park. Some said that the small number is still too many. They said Carmel isn’t New York City’s Central Park and want to see it kept that way.

“When you want a place like that you go to those areas and you enjoy it for that, but when you come to Carmel you’re coming for a different feeling,” said Butler.

The city plans to revisit the ordinance in February 2019.