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Hot dog! Council settles food cart dispute Shady Cove officials tell Weeny Wagon to move down the road from Phil's Frosty, Dutch Brothers By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune SHADY COVE - In what some city officials are calling "the wienie wars," the Weeny Wagon has to wheel on down the road - at least a few hundred feet. The City Council ordered the hot dog cart, which operates near Phil's Frosty and a Dutch Brothers coffee stand, to cease operating at its current location by the end of March. "They can't be within 500 feet of an existing mobile unit," said Councilman Jack Henson. "They're less than 100 feet." The Weeny Wagon sells hot dogs during the weekends in the parking lot of Shady Cove Hardware at 22077 Highway 62. Dutch Brothers is in the same parking lot, and Phil's Frosty - which serves a full menu, including hot dogs - is less than a block away. The matter was brought to the council's attention in January when Phil's Frosty owner Katherine Varni complained the hot dog cart violated a city ordinance because it was too close to the coffee cart. The hot dog vendor started to have an impact on her own hot dog sales, she said. "It's hard to make it through the winter," said Varni, who has owned Phil's Frosty for 12 years. "I don't know anything about government; I just make hamburgers," she said. Glenda Young, who owns and operates the Weeny Wagon, said she is willing to move her hot dog cart to a new location. Young said her cart, which is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and grosses an average of $110 each weekend, couldn't have a huge effect on Varni's business. "I have not grossed enough money to have an impact," she said. But she won't fight City Hall on the issue of moving her cart the equivalent of a football field away. "I will comply," said Young, who opened the cart in December. The City Council will revisit the wording of the mobile vendor ordinance, which some members consider too vague. Young and Varni have been invited to be involved in the revision. "I would like to participate in rewriting the ordinance," said Young. The library assistant at Eagle Point High School said she doesn't see the coffee structure, which has a deck built around it, as being a mobile unit. She wheels her cart into a garage behind the store every night, she said. Young said she would rather not move but has other options. She added she has no hard feelings toward any parties involved. "I think it was just an oversight," she said. Henson said the issue isn't personal. He just thinks it's important for Shady Cove to enforce its rules. "When you follow the ordinance, then you don't have a problem," he said. Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.