The Silver Spring Penguin

County-issued licenses would allow pushcart vendors to sell food and other goods within business districts. However, Silver Spring’s chamber of commerce hopes the pushcarts won’t compete with brick-and-mortar shops.

The proposed licensing, presented to the county council on Monday, would dictate the size and placement of pushcarts within a central business district. It would also make vendors responsible for removing trash around their carts.

According to the proposal, carts can be no more than three feet wide and seven feet long. Vendors must have 300 feet between them and the next pushcart on the block. Pushcart vendors also will be responsible for cleaning up 15 feet of sidewalk space in front of their carts, and up to 50 feet around their carts at the end of the business day.

Additionally, only one license will be issued for every five acres in a business district. Downtown Silver Spring’s central business district covers 360 acres, according to the Silver Spring Regional Center. This could generate up to 72 vendors’ licenses.

However, the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce hopes the county government will re-examine pushcart licensing next year. “We believe it will be difficult to ascertain whether these guidelines will work until they have been in place for a while,” Jane Redicker, the chamber’s president, wrote in a letter to the county.

Redicker also asked for pushcarts to be placed away from brick-and-mortar businesses to avoid direct competition. “A vendor selling watches should not be able to locate in front of a jewelry store selling watches,” she wrote.

The current proposal requires pushcart vendors to be at least 20 feet away from sidewalk cafes, and at least a five-foot radius from any building entrance or doorway. Vendors also must sell their wares from actual carts, not off the sidewalk, from atop a bench or planter, or out of a car.

Mel Tull, of the Silver Spring Regional Center, also asked the county to consider whether generators would be permitted to run lights or refrigeration on pushcarts. If gas-powered generators are permitted, the county must consider their noise and emissions, Tull wrote in an email.

Currently, the proposal prohibits motors for mobility.

As an executive regulation, the licensing proposal gets 60 days in front of the county council for approval or rejection. If the council does nothing with the proposal by the 60-day deadline, it automatically goes into effect, a senior legislative analyst wrote to the council.