Mobile vending pads at Davis Bay will increase from two to three, while locations at Friendship Park in Sechelt will expand from one to three — at least for 2025.
At a Dec. 11 meeting of the whole, the District of Sechelt council approved a mobile vending pilot program, which will see several updates to the existing one.
In a report to council Lucy Clark, community services coordinator for the district, explained the short-term recommendations for the program include, increasing the number of display areas at the existing vendor locations, increasing the types of vendors, the introduction of a day-use option, and a change of dates to create two vending seasons, Summer Season: May 1 to Oct. 31 and Winter Season: Nov. 1 to April 30.
Staff says these changes will allow new display areas and combinations of vendors to be tested out before permanent bylaw changes are drafted. The pilot program will then be evaluated over the course of the 2025 winter and summer seasons with a report to be brought forward to council by September 2025.
Mayor John Henderson said he supported the project because “it’s a prototype.”
“And I love trying new things. Let's see if we can figure out how to make it even better,” said Henderson. “I do want to hear from the business community on this, including the chamber and the [Sechelt Downtown Business Association], because, of course, Davis Bay is not part of the downtown business. I'm curious how you see it working with the winter and this is more of a maybe drafting, but you're talking about the recommendation that will be evaluated over 2025 winter and summer, but a report coming in September.”
Clark said the goal is to launch the pilot as soon as possible.
“We were hoping it would start pretty soon, right for the winter season,” she said. “We've had a lot of people phoning in, looking for the one-day option, or two days or three days, to be able to put their units on a street around Christmas time. And we would have some stats on that, if that was feasible.”
The recommendations included in the pilot were partly based on the 62-page results of a public survey, which was produced by the Sunshine Coast Business Recovery Centre. The district received more than 300 responses to the mobile vending survey, of which 90 per cent indicated they were consumers, not mobile vendor owners.
According to the survey, almost 95 per cent of the respondents people want to see more mobile vending in Sechelt. Popular comments included a desire for an increase in pads downtown and centralized rows or circles of vendors selling food and products together in a convenient location.
The district has offered three mobile vending locations for several years: Davis Bay, Kinnikinnick Park and Trail Bay. A call for applications from summer vendors has traditionally been issued over the fall or winter and a selection committee is established to evaluate the applicants based on a scoring matrix.
The program has been modified over the years to add and expand vending locations, and to allow for vendors to rotate between locations or remain in one location for a season, with permission to park overnight at DOS mobile vending sites. Permit fees for a vendor are $200 a month plus a $50 utility fee for electrical use.
In October 2023, council directed staff to engage with the public about mobile vending in Sechelt and as a result, they identified several areas where the program could be improved for the benefit of community members and tourists.
The survey also showed the public (81 per cent) would like to see their favourite vendors remain in one place instead of rotating. The report noted, when planning a day out, the public likes to know who is where and when. Vendors have also indicated it is very difficult to promote one location and then move to another weekly.
From the hundreds of comments received, the public also made it clear they’d like to see mobile vendors in place 12-months a year, instead of seasonally. Food was the favourite choice at 34.1 per cent, followed by ice cream at 23.7 per cent and then drinks (hot and cold) at 22.6 per cent. There was also some enthusiasm for mobile vendors renting products such as paddle boards and kayaks (12.1 per cent). Product sales such as sunglasses, and “other” made up the remaining numbers.
The majority of the comments left online were favourable, including, “Allowing those who wish to sell their food and products at convenient locations and with consistency — not having to guess every month where a particular vendor is. As well — showing loyalty to those who have established businesses over the years.”
And, “Vending at all popular sites across the Sunshine Coast. Specifically, areas that don't offer quick grab and go options. It makes sense to have something savory and something sweet, as Davis Bay offered this year.”
“Variety, having expensive ice cream and Mexican food as the only option at a popular Davis Bay location is limiting. [Semir’s] hot dogs was affordable as not everyone can pay $22 for two small tacos and $9 ice cream.”
Coun. Adam Shepherd said he had some concerns about connecting Sechelt’s downtown core with mobile vending on the waterfront.
“Everyone knows that there's something called a highway there that cuts off people from easily crossing over back and forth to go to those food vendors then come back into the downtown,” he said. “I think they're either down there or they're not, and they take advantage of food vendors. I'd love to see a plan that would somehow directly link our downtown to our waterfront in more of a more of a flow than people staying on the waterfront and people being downtown back and forth.”
A motion to approve the pilot project was unanimously approved.
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