Mobile milk — and you don’t even need an app for it — is set to come to North Lawrence.

Iwig Dairy has filed for a permit to have a mobile food truck that sells fresh milk and dairy items in a city parking lot near Second and Locust streets in North Lawrence.

Tim Iwig, owner of the Tecumseh-based dairy, told me the food truck idea is a bit of a test to determine the level of demand in the North Lawrence market. He confirmed his company is looking at a permanent store location in a small, vacant building a bit north of North Second and Lincoln streets.

It won’t quite be the grocery store that North Lawrence has long said it needs, but it might meet a bit of the demand in that category.

“If we could get it started, then we could see what we could pull together,” Iwig said. “We have guys who like to bring us produce and eggs and that sort of thing. If we could get people going to the location, I think it could make a difference for us and for North Lawrence.”

But first, the food truck. Iwig hopes to have his business up and running within the next week. He said he plans to sell most of the items that he currently sells in his Lawrence store at 19th and Massachusetts. That means milk, cheeses, butter and probably some ice cream. Iwig, by the way, said the mobile food truck is not meant to replace the store’s 19th and Massachusetts location. (In case you are wondering what the construction is at 19th and Mass., there’s a coffee shop that will be going into a space next to the dairy store. I’ve got an interview with the owner and likely will report back tomorrow.)

Iwig hopes to have the mobile food truck up and running within a week. I don’t yet have days or hours for the truck, although Iwig has indicated it likely would be open a couple of weekday afternoons and Saturday afternoons.

In case you are confused about what location we’re talking about, it is the city-owned lot that basically is caddy-corner from Johnny’s Tavern. (I knew providing directions from a bar would help some of you.) It will be interesting to see if the city has helped start a trend here. If Iwig has success at the lot, will other mobile food vendors seek permission to locate there?

Food trucks are big business in some cities, and they usually take off when there is a spot that allows them to co-locate and build up some critical mass. That North Lawrence parking lot wouldn’t have been the first one to come to mind as a candidate for such a location, but I guess you never know.

What I do know is a cup of fresh ice cream, a fishing pole, the Kansas River, and perhaps a cold beverage other than milk sounds like a pretty decent afternoon. (And this time, I’ll keep the ice cream farther away from the bait bucket.)

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me in the last week or so what is going on at the former Kaw Valley Motors site in North Lawrence, I would have eight or nine dollars. (And for a man who has a wife that has put JEWELRY in capital letters on her Christmas list, those dollars would be helpful. I figure it would get me about halfway there.)

If you haven’t driven by the Tee Pee Junction lately in North Lawrence, most of the old buildings that were part of the defunct Kaw Valley salvage yard have been removed, and major dirt work has begun on the site.

The project is the same one we reported on in March: Kansas City-based Advantage Metals is working to build a state-of-the-art metal salvage yard at the site.

But right now, the best way to describe the project is halted. The city of Lawrence issued a stop-work order for the project late last week.

Planning Director Scott McCullough told me the issue involves the project not having the necessary state floodplain development permit.

The city issued a floodplain development permit — the site is right next to the Kansas River but is protected by a levee — on the belief that the project didn’t need a state permit. But upon further review, McCullough said the project does need a state floodplain development permit from the Division of Water Resources. McCullough said the decision was made to issue a stop work order on the excavation that was occurring on the site until that permit is obtained.

“I don’t see any of this as a prohibition on what they want to do at the site,” McCullough said. “They just have to go through this process.”

The permit could be issued in early 2013. The state currently is processing the permit application, and a public comment period on the application runs through the end of this month, McCullough said.

But it appears likely that the site ultimately will be a salvage yard again. The approved plans for the project, however, ensure the area will look quite a bit different than the old Kaw Valley Motors site.

Plans call for a new 14,000 square foot building to be constructed along North Third Street. I believe it is fair to say that Advantage Metals will have more indoor storage of materials than Kaw Valley did. Outdoor storage areas will be fenced and screened.

Based on the company’s Web site, it appears the business will accept about any type of metal — including cars, appliances, lead acid batteries, electric motors and such.

Several folks in the area may already be familiar with Advantage’s operations. The company is based in Kansas City, but also has locations in Topeka, Fort Scott, Columbus, Emporia, and several cities in Missouri. (I hear Mizzou officials several times this season tried to trade in their football team at the locations. Yes, it is tough to make living off of Mizzou jokes when the ‘Hawks are 1-11. But, hey, I’ve got jewelry to pay for.)

With this latest delay, I don’t have word on when Advantage may open. Obviously, the project is setting up a battle between Advantage and North Lawrence-based Lonnie’s Recycling, which has been a fixture across the river for years. In addition, the 12th and Haskell Recycling Center also has plans on the book for a new location in East Lawrence, just northeast of 11th and Haskell. I need to get an update on the latest with that project.

In the meantime, it is off to jewelry shopping. Hey wait a minute. Advantage Metals. Metals. I wonder if they have a deal on jewelry.