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A food truck court proposed by boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette north of the vacant Sunset Avenue pavilion has met with opposition from eight residents nearby who attended Monday night’s council meeting.

The proposal would bring six food trucks to the open space area adjacent to the boardwalk and at the end of Sixth Avenue, between the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel and the North Beach condominiums. The food truck court would include a landscaped perimeter, string lights, picnic tables, umbrellas, and two game areas designed to accommodate passive recreational games like bocce, horseshoe, or corn hole.

North Beach resident Pat Cohen told the council that before she purchased her unit nine years ago, she looked at the city’s boardwalk redevelopment plan and it did not envision the proposed food truck court.

“I have nothing against food trucks. I think they do have a place but not in front of a residential building on Ocean Avenue,” Cohen told the City Council. “The redevelopment plan showed it as a quiet residential zone…there would be a couple of restaurants, some retail shops and that was it. Now we are getting food trucks which I just can’t understand.”

Madison Senior Vice President Anselm Fusco said the project’s goal is to meet the need for amenities in the north end.

“We really see, over the past number of years, a significant increase in activity on the northern side of the beach,” Fusco [show at right] said. “We believe it’s time to offer some sort of amenities to the folks on the northern side.”

The number of seasons that the approvals would cover has not yet been determined. Temporary structures such as the proposed food truck court are allowed under the redevelopment plan at this particular site, but permanent structures are not, said Donald Sammet, the city’s director of planning and redevelopment.

Councilman Joe Woerner said he would like what’s provided at the food truck court to be transitioned over a timeline into a rehabilitated Sunset Avenue pavilion. “You can look at the plan and this is not what was intended for that area,” said Woerner.

Fusco said that the food truck court is a project that can be accomplished immediately. It cannot be linked to the Sunset Avenue pavilion as that project involves a much larger investment whose timing will be determined by whether it can work financially, he said.

“The issue is one of balancing the cost of that development against the economic activity it would generate,” Fusco said.

At issue for Cohen, and other neighborhood residents who spoke during the meeting, are the hours of operation, trash, lighting and noise.

The Council must grant conceptual approval before the project can advance to the Planning Board. The council must weigh whether the project is consistent with the city’s waterfront redevelopment plan, said Sammet. The food truck court is allowed under the lease agreement between the city and Madison Marquette, he said.

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