Maryland’s Highest Court Rules Against Food Trucks, Upholds Baltimore City’s ‘300-Foot Rule’

Mckenna Oxenden

Maryland’s highest court ended a four-year legal battle Monday by upholding a previous ruling to keep Baltimore’s “300-foot rule.”

The court said in a lengthy ruling that the rule prohibiting mobile vendors from operating within 300 feet of a competing retail establishment was constitutional because it is not “arbitrary, oppressive or unreasonable.”

“The City acted rationally when it balanced the competing interests of mobile vendors and brick-and-mortar restaurants and enacted the 300-foot rule to further its legitimate interest in promoting the vibrancy of its commercial districts,” Judge Jonathan Biran wrote in the court’s opinion.

Baltimore food truck owners Joey Vanoni, of Pizza di Joey, and Nikki McGowans, of Madame BBQ (now known as MindGrub Café), first contested the ban four years ago in a lawsuit. The suit alleged that the city law prohibiting food trucks from operating within 300 feet of a business that sells the same product violated their constitutional rights.

The lawsuit argued that the rule’s only purpose was to protect existing food industry businesses from competition.

Last year, Maryland Court of Special Appeals Judge Douglas R.M. Nazarian overturned a lower court’s ruling that declared the ban too vague to enforce.

The Baltimore City Council passed the 300-foot rule into law in 2014. The rule applies to all mobile vendors, not just food trucks, and violators can face $500 fines and the revocation of their mobile vendor’s license.

The court said that while the food truck owners see the rule as an infringement on their rights, the court sees it “simply as democracy in action.”

Judge Irma S. Raker wrote in a dissenting opinion that the court lacks “jurisdiction” to appeal because courts are “long forbidden” to render “purely advisory opinions.” The judge also said the rule is not vague because “fear arising from prospective enforcement of a law is not sufficient.”

The Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Robert Frommer, who represented Vanoni and McGowans, said in a news release that the courts should have taken the impact of the coronavirus into consideration. The defense attorney said food trucks still can’t operate, even if a nearby restaurant is temporarily closed.

“At a time when Americans are struggling to get by and food options are growing more limited each day, Baltimore has been allowed to put further limits on food options to protect established restaurants and businesses,” Frommer said in a release. “The city’s 300-foot ban makes even less sense today as lockdowns in response to COVID-19 force restaurants to operate more like food trucks, often dispensing food rather than allowing diners to eat in.”

Vanoni said in a news release that the decision marked a “sad day” for Marylanders “who aspire to own a food business and hungry customers who love food trucks.”

“Without my food truck, I never would have been able to also open a pizza shop at Cross Street Market, no thanks to Baltimore City government,” he said.