SEATTLE - The Seattle City Council voted unanimously earlier this week to allow food trucks to operate on private streets in the city. Pending Mayor Mike McGinn??s signature, the law will take effect in one month, the Seattle Times reports.

Councilmember Sally Clark introduced the bill, maintaining it would make it easier for small businesses to operate in the city. "The overarching goal: a little more interest in neighborhoods, a little more interest out in the street life," she said.

The bill expands the types of food that sidewalk carts can sell, too, allowing them to move beyond hot dogs and coffee (subject to Public Health-Seattle & King County??s approval).

"I think it's a good time to do it. Opening up a brick-and-mortar is not the most convenient right now," said Tony Yamanaka, of foodtrailersaustin.com, a website that covers street food in Austin, Texas.

In allowing food trucks to operate on Seattle??s streets, the City Council established the following limits:

• Only two food trucks can park on the same side of a street on a single block.
• No parking within 50 feet of an existing food business, or within 15 feet of a retail business.
• No parking within 1,000 feet of a high school, except in commercial areas where the restriction is reduced to 200 feet.
• No parking in single-family or low-rise residential areas.

The Seattle Department of Transportation will lease parking locations to trucks in four-hour time slots for $2.25 per hour. Spots will not be designated; rather, truck owners will apply for a site and SDOT will review it. Each application will include a comment period of 10 days.

All approved trucks would need to pay the same permitting fees as does a restaurant and rent space for a commissary kitchen.