CAPE CANAVERAL — Dave Patty remains at odds with the city about selling ice cream and water on the beach — at least for now.
The City Commission asked city staff Tuesday night to work on wording that could lead to the issue being placed before voters in a referendum.
The council had been set to consider an ordinance to allow beach vending.
“All I wanted them to do is give me an occupational license,” Patty said after the decision. “I didn’t want to start all this.”
For about two years, Patty has been selling ice cream sandwiches, snow cones, ice pops, fruit bars and bottled water along some stretches of beaches in Brevard County, including Cape Canaveral.
He sells the treats from dry ice-packed coolers that sit in a PVC-framed pushcart he rolls on the sand on balloon tires. From the cart he plays music typically heard from neighborhood ice cream trucks.
He says people know he is coming because of the music. They gather at his cart for a treat.
However, Patty has been cited and told that he is selling on the beach illegally. He started the part-time business after his pool building business dried up.
But Mayor Rocky Randels said he thinks allowing vendors on the beach would change the city’s character.
“I’m not a supporter of this,” he said. “What problem are we really trying to solve?”
No vote was taken, but Randels, Mayor Pro Tem Buzz Petsos and council member Shannon Roberts indicated they wanted the issue to go to referendum.
“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” resident Rhonda Anderson said. “You haven’t looked at what this man has.”
Roberts said the residents she talked to
don’t think having vendors on the beach is a good idea.
“They are very, very concerned about this,” she said. “The concern is very local.”
Council member Betty Walsh said she went on the beach and found that most beachgoers she talked to were in favor of ice cream and water sales on the sand.
“It’s well accepted,” she said. “It’s interesting how I heard a little bit different.”
(2 of 2)Petsos said he had calls both in favor and against. He said he was concerned the franchise categories were not spelled out in the ordinance. He questioned how many vendors would be allowed in each category.
Council members said they were simply going by what they heard from residents, but they acknowledged it was not a large sampling of people. Randels said he spoke to 13 people on the beach about the issue.
When the city was incorporated in 1963, the state Legislature granted it jurisdiction over the beach. In addition, city ordinance prohibits vending after problems occurred due to too many solicitors on the beach in the 1980s.
Council member Bob Hoog said he believes the ice cream and bottled-water sales on the beach is a good service in the community.
Longtime resident Jim Houston said allowing other businesses on the beach would not sit well with him, but a single ice cream vendor with a small cart should be no problem.
“I like the idea of the rolling ice cream cart,” he said. “That fits with out beach, our tone, our environment.”
Contact Moody at 242-3651 or nmoody@floridatoday.com.
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