BERNARDSTON — Following a citizen’s petition signed by 15 residents, voters at Annual Town Meeting will consider the definition of a “restaurant” for the purposes of the town’s zoning bylaws.

The petition proposes that the definition of “restaurant” be “any business establishment, temporary or permanent, principally engaged in the retail sale of food, drink or refreshments, whether prepared on or off the premises.” By comparison, current bylaws define a restaurant as “a permanent structure at which the principal activity is the preparation and retail sale of food or beverage.”

Although it’s ultimately up to Town Meeting voters to decide on whether to approve the revision, the Planning Board voted on March 25 to not recommend the change.

“To me, we could set up a fruit stand, sell honey or sell lemonade, and in my mind, it’s going to be called a restaurant in the bylaws,” now Planning Board Co-Chair Peter Nai said at the time. “I think there’s several issues with the way he’s worded this [definition].”

If Town Meeting voters approve the definition change, it will be sent to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office for final approval.

The petition was sponsored by Alexander Fiorey, who filed it on May 3, 2023 while attempting to permanently open Falltown Cruiser, an immobilized food truck at 19 South St. According to former Planning Board Chair Christina Slocum-Wysk, who served on the board until March 31, and Town Administrator Karen Kelly, Fiorey’s business would require a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals and a site plan review through the Planning Board.

Fiorey was allowed to run Falltown Cruiser with his wife, Amy, during the summer of 2023 after obtaining a seasonal permit from Randy Crochier, a regional health agent with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. Slocum-Wysk said the town allowed Fiorey to conduct business pending approval of a site plan review and special permit, both of which he applied for but did not follow through with.

Fiorey, who declined to be interviewed for this article, then submitted the citizen’s petition seeking to amend the definition of “restaurant” in the town bylaws. However, because a public hearing was not held on the petition before last year’s Annual Town Meeting, a vote was postponed until this year. The Planning Board held a hearing on the proposed change in February.

“There’s a lot to learn from this,” Kelly said in reflection. “This was a unique situation.”

Although the Falltown Cruiser is now up for sale at the South Street lot, the introduction of a food truck to town has prompted the Planning Board to agree to take up the issue of defining mobile food trucks in a separate category in Bernardston’s zoning bylaws in the near future.

“There’s some cleanup that needs to happen in some of the bylaws,” Slocum-Wysk said.