No 'Velvet Elvises' on Route 32 Anytime Soon

At a special town meeting almost 100 years ago, an ordinance was passed that required peddlers to have a license.

Ninety-seven years later, that ordinance came pretty close to being repealed to add an important change which would have allowed vendors to be within a mile of a bricks and mortar business. 

But at Monday’s Town Council public hearing on the issue, after a parade of local business owners, residents and even town officials spoke against the plan, it was scraped; at least for now. Councilors voted to send it to the Planning and Zoning and Economic Development commissions for review. 

“This is a poorly drafted ordinance,” Town Planner Marcia Vlaun did not mince words, “which will result in a wild, wild west show.”

Vlaun’s argument was there were virtually no regulations or limitations for where a vendor could set up shop, what the peddler could sell or even if the vendor was local.

“Montville did not have a good reputation for business. It’s taken a lot” to create a business-friendly climate in town, she said. “People have invested a lot in bricks and mortar and I for one am grateful.”

Vlaun said a vendor could sell any wares, too, from food to “Elvis paintings on velvet.”

“And there is nothing that limits this to Montville residents. No traffic study, no site plan, no regulations,” she said.  Vlaun was prepared to say “plenty more” but was stopped by Council President Candy Buebendorf’s 3-minute buzzer; public comments are limited to 120 seconds.

After Vlaun, business owners and others came to the podium to voice their opposition including Town Councilor Dana McFee, who said he too is a vendor but believed the ordinance should have been sent to the PZC.

PZC chairman William Pieniadz also opposed the council’s plan to see the ordinance passed.

“I’m all for going out and hustling and trying to make a living, but this doesn’t work,” he said.

And Montville Police Lt. Leonard Bunnell said that as a law enforcement officer, the proposed change to the town law would add dangerously to congestion. And said he also “objects as a taxpayer.”

“It just ain’t fair,” he said.

Ed’s Kitchen owner Edward A. Lusher Jr., who owns three Route 32 properties including American Car Wash, said he opposed the council’s move to pass the ordinance.  

“And three minutes is not enough time,” Lusher said. “I pay over $20,000 in taxes. It’s incredible what it costs (to run a business). And because somebody wants to sell a hot dog, (the Town Council) has us all here talking about this?”

Lusher may have been referring to now former Town Councilor Gary Murphy who championed the change in the ordinance. he said. Murphy, who owns a hot dog cart, said that while he wanted to see the new ordinance passed, he added he’d be selling his hot dogs in Norwich.

“My point is the mile rule is wrong and I’m a taxpayer,” he said.

After the hearing, during the regular council meeting, it voted unanimously to table the ordinance.  Councilor Rosetta Jones was not at the meeting Monday. Jones had previously said she was opposed to the ordinance saying it would adversely impact bricks and mortar businesses and she had asked the council to send it to PZC for review.