PETERSBURG – The Upper Township Committee has approved two licenses for ice cream vendors on township beaches, but not all residents are screaming for ice cream.
Mayor Curtis Corson said the township could decide to put the vendor licenses out to bid, which would bring more money into the township general fund.
At the committee’s July 14 meeting, resident Colleen Jones said adding two more vendor licenses for Strathmere beaches would bring the total to three. However, Jones felt three is a crowd given the narrow width of the beach.
“A lot of people are not happy about this,” she said.
“I’ve heard both sides,” Corson said. “Some are ecstatic.”
Upper Township only has 1.3 miles of beach, Corson said, but he sees the additional vendors as a positive, saying, “The next year is going to be big for Upper Township and the Strathmere area.”
The mayor said this is an opportunity to bring more revenue into the township. The township charges a $150 registration fee for vendors, plus $50 per person to sell ice cream.
Two years ago, North Wildwood was charging between $800 and $900 for a beach vending license, and decided to put licenses out to bid. The first license brought the city $140,000.
“We will not get $140,000,” Corson said, “but we will get a lot more than we are getting now.”
He said that adding two new vendors means more competition. He also said some people don’t like the sound of the bell on the ice cream trucks, but that people get upset about other people smoking on the beach, drinking, playing music or throwing a ball.
“An ice cream vendor is not adding chaos to the beach, and it was happening last year without a permit,” he said.
Corson said vendors were making their way up from Sea Isle to Strathmere, so having beach vending is not an unknown or unheard of.
“Now it’s a licensed thing,” he said.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
