Tropi-Cool Ice Returning to Beach for 2018 Season

At the March 15th 2018 Town Council regular monthly meeting Council approved a vendor’s request to conduct an ice cart business in the Open Space District.

As requested, this vendor, Donald Middagh of Tropi-Cool Ice would be open for operation, weather permitting, for sixteen hours per weekend over a period of fifteen consecutive weekends, or two hundred forty (240) total weekend hours. Weather permitting, the vendor would be operating forty hours per week for a period of thirteen weeks, or five hundred twenty (520) total hours, during the week. The vendor cites specific public safety concerns as the basis for this request.

The operation, since it is water-based, Italian Ice does not involve grills, smokers, or other devices that generate cooking odors.

Staff recommended: Town Council grant the vendor’s request, under the time, place, and operational limitations cited in his letter as a follow up to last year’s controlled trial. That trial went well and did not result in unanticipated problems. Specific location may require flexibility but be limited to the area adjacent to the bathrooms and LOVE sculpture, or proximate to the Boardwalk and the information kiosk. No activity should be allowed on or near the dunes, nor seaward of the dunes.

“The sole purpose of this request continues to be safety. Being a vending cart selling Italian Ice, targets a demographic of children and parents. Because of the size of the vending cart and many children that may be around the cart at any given time, it would be safer to operate the cart off of the area where cars travel past and park. Given the size of the cart and setup, it could easily be overlooked by oncoming traffic or those looking for a parking space. Also, due to the hours of operation, it will become very difficult to find an area to set up the cart due to the vehicles anticipated to be already parked in front of the public beach” — Donald Middagh