Chapter 9.07: Shopping Carts
9.07.010 – Findings and purpose.
Abandoned shopping carts constitute a public nuisance, create potential hazards to the public health and safety and interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic within the City. Wrecked, dismantled, and/or abandoned shopping carts on public or private property create conditions that reduce property values and promote blight and deterioration within the City’s neighborhoods, and degrade the quality of the City’s river and creek corridors and other open space areas. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure that measures are taken by cart owners to prevent the removal of shopping carts from store premises.
9.07.030 – Shopping cart identification signs.
Within one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days of the effective date of this Chapter, the owner shall have a sign that is prominent and visible permanently affixed to each shopping cart. The information on the identification sign shall comply with the requirements of Business and Professions Code section 22435.1, as amended from time to time.
9.7.40 – Unauthorized removal or possession of a shopping cart.
It is unlawful for any person to do any of the following:
A. To remove a shopping from the premises or parking area of a retail establishment with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.
B. To be in possession of any shopping cart that has been removed from the premises or the parking area of a retail establishment, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.
C. To be in possession of any shopping cart with a serial number or any of the identifying information required by Section 9.07.030 removed, obliterated, or altered, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.
D. To leave or abandon a shopping cart at a location other than the premises or parking area of the retail establishment with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.
E. To alter, convert, or tamper with a shopping cart, or to remove any part or portion thereof, including signs required by Section 9.07.030, or to remove, obliterate or alter serial numbers on a cart, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.
9.7.50 – Containment and retrieval plan required.
A. Within one hundred and twenty calendar (120) days of the effective date of this Chapter, every owner who allows or intends to allow the use of shopping carts outside the building of a business shall develop and implement a specific plan to prevent unauthorized individuals from removing carts from the business premises and to recover them in the event they are removed from the premises. The plan shall be made available for inspection by the City within forty-eight (48) hours of a request to do so. The Plan shall be effective to discourage removal of carts from the owner’s premises and to facilitate recovery of the carts. Specific measures shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Placement of signage to discourage the removal of shopping carts from the premises;
2. The physical measures the owner will make, which may include providing disabling devices on all carts and posting of a security guard to deter and stop unauthorized individuals who attempt to remove carts from the business premises;
3. Provision for retrieval of abandoned carts by employees or contracts for cart retrieval services, including the cleaning of carts prior to returning them to service; and
4. Prohibitions against allowing carts off the Premises unless written permission from the owner has been attained or the person is in the presence of an employee.
B. Two (2) or more businesses may collaborate and may establish a single plan.
C. New Development/Redevelopment. In addition to the containment and retrieval plan required by this section, with approval of new retail establishments or redevelopment requiring discretionary action by the City, specific physical measures may be required to be implemented to prevent the cart removal from the business premises.
9.07.060 – Authority to impound.
The City may impound any abandoned shopping cart when the shopping cart has a sign affixed, as required by Section 9.07.030. The City shall provide notice to the owner of any carts impounded in accordance with the provisions of Business and Professions Code section 22435.7, as amended from time to time.
9.07.070 – Authority to store.
Any shopping cart that is impounded shall be stored by the City at a location that is reasonably convenient to the owner of the shopping cart and is open for business at least six (6) hours of each day, during normal City Hall business hours. However, the City shall not be liable to any person for theft or damage to a shopping cart stored or impounded by the City.
9.7.80 – Administrative costs and fines.
A. An owner who fails to retrieve a shopping cart after receiving the notification required by Section 9.07.060 shall be assessed the City’s cost of discovery, identification, notification, and impoundment as established by resolution of the City Council.
B. Any owner who fails to retrieve abandoned carts in accordance with this Chapter in excess of three (3) times during any six (6) month period shall be subject to the maximum fine provided by Business and Professions Code section 22435.7, as amended from time to time.
9.07.090 – Disposal of abandoned shopping carts.
Pursuant to subdivision (g) of Business and Professions Code section 22435.7, as amended from time to time, any cart displaying a sign described in Section 9.07.030 not reclaimed from the City within thirty (30) calendar days after notification to the owner shall be sold or otherwise disposed of by the City.
9.7.100 – Violations and Enforcement.
A. Violation of any Section within this Chapter is a public nuisance.
B. Violation of any Section within this Chapter is an infraction.
Section 2. The passage of this ordinance is not a “project” according to the definition in the California Environmental Quality Act, and therefore is not subject to the provisions requiring environmental review.
Section 3. Severability. If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance and the application of such provision will remain in effect to the extent permitted by law.
Section 4. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after the date of its adoption, and the City Clerk shall certify to the adoption thereof and cause its publication according to law.
