As food trucks become a common sight on D.C. streets, several established restaurants have lobbied the D.C. Council to create laws regulating when and where the trucks can operate. The laws, which the D.C. Council will vote on in a few weeks, would be the first of their kind in the District.

One crucial point of disagreement between restaurants and food truck owners is that food trucks must park at least 60 feet away from restaurants that sell the same type of food. These parking limitations negatively affect the business food trucks are able to generate, according to food truck operators.

“If we normally stay two hours, and we are only allowed to stay half that time, it has an effect on business,” said Greg Fromel, a driver for the food truck Sweetflow, the mobile extension of Sweetgreen. According to Fromel, police and restaurants ask the food truck to move from its parked position around once every two weeks.

Yet parked food trucks also pose a threat to small restaurant businesses.

“To place a vendor directly in front of or on the sidewalk next to a restaurant is extremely detrimental to the visibility and viability of businesses,” the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington wrote in a letter to Helder Gil, legislative affairs specialist to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Both sides are rallying support in light of the impending legislation. Sweetflow has a flyer on the side of its trucks urging customers to sign a petition on behalf of food trucks. Meanwhile, the RAMW’s website urges local business owners to submit their comments to the D.C. Council. The DCRA has received over 3,000 comments regarding the legislation, said Mike Rupert, DCRA spokesman.

“We are listening to all sides and ultimately going to put up the best idea of what we think is the balance between all the concerns,” Rupert said.

Other regulations would prohibit food trucks from parking unless they are serving a line of customers and would prohibit vending within 40 feet of an intersection. In a neighborhood such as Georgetown where the blocks are small, trucks may find it difficult to locate places to sell.

Mike Arthur, assistant manager at Wingo’s, sees competition from food trucks as an opportunity to improve services and pricing.

“Some other restaurants might complain, but I’m all for them,” he said. “[But I would probably] call [the Department of] Public Works if a food truck was parked in front of my store.”

Georgetown is largely immune to these problems, however. Existing laws prohibit vending on M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, which are snow emergency routes, so food trucks rarely frequent the area. Arthur said that he believes food trucks would face local opposition if they were to become more widespread.”