This amendment adds an Article 9 “Offenses and Penalties of Shopping Carts” to Chapter 12 of the City Code.
A major concern for City officials and staff has been the removal of shopping carts from the premises of businesses and left abandoned along public streets and rights-of-way and on private property creating a public nuisance and potential hazard to the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Shopping carts that have been lost, stolen, or abandoned interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, impede emergency services and creates impediments to the flow of water in drainage systems and waterways when abandoned within drainage culverts and along drainage easements.
This proposed amendment to Chapter 12 of the City Code includes the requirement of retail establishments with ten or more shopping carts to develop and implement a plan to retrieve its shopping carts that are found throughout the City. All establishments subject to this section shall submit an Abandoned Shopping Cart Prevention and Retrieval Plan with their annual Business License renewal. The minimum standards that must be included in the required Abandoned Shopping Cart Prevention and Retrieval Plan are outlined in the ordinance and include:
A. The owner’s name and contact information including a point of contact name(s) to report abandoned shopping carts.
B. Means to maintain shopping carts on premises during business hours.
C. Means to retrieve lost, stolen, or abandoned shopping carts off premises.
D. Means to prevent lost, stolen, or abandoned shopping carts outside of business hours.
E. Notifications to the public that any unauthorized removal of a shopping cart is a violation of municipal code.
F. Identification shall be affixed to and maintained on each shopping cart available for use by customers with the name of the retail establishment.
G. The plan shall include a communication and training program for employees and contractors of the retail establishment which addresses the Abandoned Shopping Cart Prevention and Retrieval Plan and the provisions of this article.
Additionally, this ordinance provides for the abatement of shopping carts. Shopping carts found abandoned on private property will be abated by the Community Development Department through the City’s code enforcement; shopping carts found on rights-of-way or in drainage ditches will be abated by the Municipal Services Department. As there may be an immediate danger to the health, life, safety, and welfare of any person due to abandoned shopping carts, the City shall have the power to order the abatement or collection without a notice or hearing.
This ordinance makes it clear that it is a violation for removing a shopping cart from the establishment’s premises, without the written permission of the owner, and the individual can be prosecuted for the violation.
Staff believes the proposed amendment will better serve our community and help mitigate blight and the removal of shopping carts from business premises and abandonment along City rights-of-way and private property.