CHAPTER 5.30: ABANDONMENT OF SHOPPING CARTS
Section 5.30.060: Assessments for Shopping Cart Removal–Hearings.
a) Within thirty days of the abatement and removal of any shopping cart located on public or private property within the city, the city manager or his authorized representative shall give notice to the owner thereof (if the same can be ascertained) by mailing a notice of abatement to the last known address of the owner. Such notice shall state the date the shopping cart was removed from public or private property, the location and procedure for retrieval of the shopping cart, and a statement that in order to receive a hearing with regard to the removal of the shopping cart, the owner or its agent shall submit a request for such hearing either in person or in writing within ten days of the date appearing on the notice. Any such shopping cart removed and stored pursuant to these provisions shall be released to the owner thereof if claimed within thirty days after such removal and upon the payment of reasonable administrative fees. Such administrative fees may be waived if, after a hearing has been requested, a determination is made at such hearing that good cause exists for the waiver of such fees.
b) Administrative fees for the removal and storage of shopping carts shall be established or modified by resolution of the City Council and shall include the actual cost of removal and storage of any shopping cart, or parts thereof, plus the proportional share of the administrative costs in connection therewith.
c) Any hearing which is requested shall be conducted within ten business days of the receipt of the request for such hearing, excluding weekends and holidays, by the city manager, or his/her designee, who shall be designated as the hearing officer. The failure of either the owner or its agent to request a hearing shall constitute a waiver and a voluntary relinquishment and abandonment of the hearing requirement. If it is determined at the hearing that reasonable grounds for the abatement and removal of a shopping cart are not established, no fee for removal and storage of such shopping cart shall be imposed. At the close of the hearing, the hearing officer shall determine whether good cause was shown for the abatement or removal of the shopping cart from public or private property. The decision of the hearing officer shall be deemed the final administrative determination. If good cause is shown for the abatement and removal of the shopping cart, the owner or its agent shall have fifteen days from the date of the hearing to retrieve its shopping cart upon payment of the administrative fee. No shopping carts shall be released until the authorized administrative fee is paid to the city. If good cause is not shown for the abatement and removal of the shopping cart from public or private property, the administrative fee shall be waived and the owner or its agent shall have fifteen days to retrieve its shopping cart from the storage area. The action of an owner or owner’s agent or employee to permit any such cart, wagon or device to be removed from the owner’s premises shall be considered littering.
d) Any shopping carts which are not retrieved by the owner of such shopping cart within thirty days after the mailing of written notice of abatement when such owner has not requested a hearing in accordance with this section, or within thirty days of the decision of the hearing officer, or within ninety days of storage of the cart by the city in all other cases, shall be deemed to be permanently abandoned and may be sold at public auction or otherwise disposed of at the end of thirty day period following mailing written notice of abatement.
e) At such time as shall be convenient to the city, the city shall advertise for the sale of permanently abandoned (as provided in subsection D. of this section) shopping carts. Notice of such sale shall be posted in three conspicuous places located within the city. Ten days after the posting of such notice and the time and place fixed in the notice for said sale (or at such time and places to which the sale shall be reasonably continued) such shopping cart may be sold along with other shopping carts, and delivered to the highest bidder free and clear of the claims for the owner thereof.
f) The proceeds of such sale shall be disbursed to the city.
(Ord. 595 § 8, 1995)
Section 5.30.070: Identification of Shopping Carts.
a) All shopping carts used in the city shall be properly identified by the owner thereof, including the name of the local store in which such shopping cart is to be used. All persons owning shopping carts within the city for use by their customers to take outside of the buildings shall have firmly affixed thereto the owner’s identification.
(Ord. 595 § 9, 1995)
Section 5.30.080: Removal from Premises Prohibited–Exceptions.
a) No person shall remove from the immediate store or parking premises of any food store, market or other mercantile establishment in the city, any shopping cart, wagon or similar device, bearing a notification affixed thereto in a conspicuous place thereon to the effect that such cart, wagon or device is not to be removed from the owner’s premises, unless such person is the owner or owner’s employee or agent.
(Ord. 595 § 10, 1995)
