CHAPTER 8.70: ABANDONED SHOPPING CARTS
Section 8.70.010: Findings and Purpose.
a) The City Council finds that abandoned shopping carts on public and private property create conditions that reduce property values, promote blight and deterioration, and result in a public nuisance. This chapter is intended to ensure that measures are taken by the owners of shopping carts to prevent the removal of the shopping carts from the owner’s premises and to facilitate the retrieval of abandoned shopping carts in a manner consistent with State law.
Section 8.70.030: Cart Containment System Required.
a) Every cart owner shall operate and maintain an on-site cart containment program as defined in section 8.70.020. A cart owner may be exempted from this requirement if he or she provides proof of contracting with a qualified cart retrieval service and submits information Community Development Director or designee which demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Director that the qualified cart retrieval service will: (i) actively locate shopping carts within a five-mile radius of the cart owner’s business premises; and (ii) respond to complaints from the public in a manner which results in the retrieval of shopping carts within twenty-four (24) hours after receiving complaint(s).
Section 8.70.040: Cart Identification Signs.
a) Pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 22435.1, each shopping cart owned or used within the City shall have permanently affixed to it and easily visible a cart identification sign or engraved surface which includes all of the following information: The name of the cart owner; the telephone number of the cart owner and/or commercial establishment to which the cart belongs; a valid toll-free phone number for cart retrieval; the procedure (if any) to be followed to obtain permission to remove the cart from the business premises; and a notice to the public that unauthorized removal of the cart from the business premises is a violation of State law and City ordinance.
b) It shall be the responsibility of each cart owner to comply with subsection (a) of this section, and to continuously maintain, or cause to be maintained, the cart identification sign so that all of the required information is accurate and clearly legible.
Section 8.70.060: New Construction.
a) A cart owner shall be required to install a physical containment system when the cart owner establishes a new facility utilizing carts for consumers or when any improvements or expansions occur with a valuation in excess of $50,000.00.
Section 8.70.070: Enforcement and Remedies.
a) The City may exercise the following remedies:
1) Pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 22435.7, any owner that fails to retrieve its abandoned cart(s) within three (3) business days after receiving notice from the City, shall pay the City’s administrative costs for retrieving the cart(s) and providing the notification to the Owner. Any Owner who fails to retrieve abandoned carts in accordance with this Chapter in excess of three times during a specified six-month period shall be subject to a $50.00 fine for each occurrence. An occurrence includes all carts owned by the Owner that impounded by the City a one-day period.
2) If a cart is not retrieved by its owner within thirty (30) days after the owner has received notice of the cart being impounded, including a failure to pay costs and fines, or if the cart’s owner cannot be determined, the cart will be sold, destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the City sees fit.
3) Following the City having retrieved more than ten (10) carts in any thirty (30) day period or the issuance of more than ten (10) administrative citations in any twelve (12) month period, the Director of Community Development may require the owner to install a physical containment system.
