HomeMy WebLinkAbout841 - OrdinancesORDINANCE NO. 841
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA
REGULATING THE REMOVAL OF SHOPPING CARTS FROM
RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT PREMISES, AND AMENDING TITLE
8 OF THE RANCHO CUCAMONGA MUNICIPAL CODE
A. Recitals.
(i) California Business and Professions Code Section 22435 et seq. regulates and
prohibits the removal of shopping carts with permanently affixed identification signs from the
premises or parking areas of retail establishments.
(ii) Califomia Business and Professions Code Section 22435.8 does not prohibit the
City's adoption of an ordinance that regulates or prohibits the removal of shopping carts from
the premises or parking areas of retail establishments, except to the extent any provision of
such an ordinance expressly conflicts with California Business and Professions Code Section
22435 et seq.
(iii) The City Council finds that the abandonment of shopping carts within the City is a
source of visual blight and reduces the aesthetic appearance of the City.
(iv) The City Council further finds that the abandonment of shopping carts on both
private and public property, including streets and other rights-of-way, can impede pedestrian
and vehicular traffic, including emergency services, and constitutes a nuisance and a threat to
the public health, safety, and welfare.
(v) The City Council finds that local retail establishments that own or provide
shopping carts to customers for use on or about their premises often fail to take reasonable and
appropriate steps to prevent the unauthorized removal of shopping carts from their premises or
retrieve removed shopping carts in a timely manner.
(vi) The City Council finds that, in addition to the requirements of California Business
and Professions Code Section 22435 et seq., requiring local retail establishments that own or
provide shopping carts for use by customers to implement measures to prevent the removal of
shopping carts from their establishments is necessary to reduce visual blight and nuisances in
the City, and to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
B. Ordinance.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Rancho Cucamonga hereby ordains as
follows:
Section 1. Anew Chapter 8.50 is hereby added to Title 8 of the Rancho Cucamonga
Municipal Code to read as follows:
Chapter 8.50
SHOPPING CARTS
Sections:
8.50.010 Purpose and intent.
8.50.020 Definitions.
8.50.030 Business Owner obligation to prevent the removal of Shopping
Carts from Premises.
8.50.040 Duty to abate.
8.50.050 City powers not limited by this chapter.
8.50.060 Enforcement.
8.50.010 Purpose and intent
A. The City has determined that the unauthorized removal of shopping carts
from retail establishments and their subsequent abandonment on public and private
properties creates visual blight and potential hazards to the health, safety, and welfare of
the public, interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and constitutes a nuisance.
B. It is the intent of this Chapter to regulate, in accordance with and in addition
to Business and Professions Code Section 22435 et seq., the removal of shopping carts
from the premises or parking areas of retail establishments.
8.50.020 Definitions.
A. "Business Owner" means the owner or operator of a commercial
establishment that provides Shopping Carts for use by its customers for the purpose of
transporting goods of any kind on or about its Premises.
B. "Parking Area" means a parking lot or other property provided by a
Business Owner for use by a customer for parking an automobile or other vehicle. The
Parking Area of a retail establishment located in a multistore complex or shopping center
shall include the entire Parking Area used by the complex or center.
C. "Premises" means the interior of a Business Owner's establishment,
adjacent walkways, any loading area, and the parking area, as defined herein.
D. "Shopping Cart" means a basket that is mounted on wheels or a similar
wheeled device used in a retail establishment by a customer for transporting goods.
8.50.030 Shopping Cart identification signs.
Business Owners shall permanently affix vandal-resistant identification signs to each
Shopping Cart on its Premises. The identification sign shall conspicuously set forth all of the
following information:
A. The name and address of the Business Owner and Premises;
B. A valid telephone number or address for notifying the Business Owner for
purposes of returning the Shopping Cart if found off of the Business Owner's Premises;
C. Notice to the public that the unauthorized removal of a Shopping Cart from
the Premises, or the unauthorized possession of a Shopping Cart, is a violation of state
law.
Ordinance No. 841 -Page 2 of 5
D. Notice to the public of the procedure to be utilized for authorized removal of
the Shopping Cart from the Premises.
8.50.040 Business Owner obligation to prevent the removal of Shopping
Carts from Premises.
A. All Business Owners shall implement effective measures to prevent and
discourage the removal of Shopping Carts from their Premises. In furtherance thereof,
Business Owners shall comply with the following requirements:
1. Business Owners shall post and maintain signs at each customer
pedestrian exit on the Premises, in one or more languages, providing notice that
customers may not remove Shopping Carts from the Premises without written
authorization and that unauthorized removal of Shopping Carts from the Premises is a
violation of state law. The sign(s) shall be conspicuously and prominently displayed to
be clearly visible at each customer pedestrian exit on the Premises.
2. Shopping Carts may not be utilized off of a Business Owner's Premises
without the Business Owner's written consent.
3. Upon receipt of telephonic or written notification from the City or any
person, that a Shopping Cart belonging to a Business Owner has been found off of the
Business Owner's Premises the Business Owner shall retrieve such Shopping Cart
within 48 hours of receipt of such notice.
8.50.050 City powers not limited by this chapter.
Nothing in this section is intended to limit the ability of the city to remove or dispose of
any cart to which a cart identification sign is not attached, or to remove or dispose of any
cart which impedes the provision of emergency services, or which is an immediate
threat to public health and safety, to the full extent permitted by state law.
8.50.060 Enforcement.
A. The city manager or his or her designee, including but not limited to, police
officers, code enforcement officers, or other duly authorized enforcement officials of the
city shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
B. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and shall be subject to the enforcement remedies set forth in Chapter
1.12 of the Rancho Cucamonga Municipal Code.
C. Nothing in this chapter shall be intended to limit any of the civil,
administrative or criminal remedies available to the city, nor shall it be intended to limit
the city from engaging in efforts to obtain voluntary compliance by means of warnings,
notices, administrative citations or educational programs."
Section 2. The provisions of this Ordinance shall become operative and may be enforced,
commencing 180 days after the effective date.
Ordinance No. 841 -Page 3 of 5
Section 3. Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any
person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or
applications of the Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application,
and to this end the provisions of this Ordinance are severable. This City Council hereby declares
that it would have adopted this Ordinance irrespective of the invalidity of any particular portion
thereof and intends that the invalid portions should be severed and the balance of the Ordinance be
enforced.
Section 4. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance.
Please see the Pollowing page
/or /o~mal atloptlon, ce~cat/on antl signatures
Ordinance No. 841 -Page 4 of 5
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 18`"day of May 2011.
AYES: Alexander, Buquet, Michael, Spagnolo, Williams
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAINED: None
ATTEST:
Q-a~uc~e. rl~~~a
ice C. Reynolds, City Jerk
I, JANICE C. REYNOLDS, CITY CLERK of the City of Rancho Cucamonga,
California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was introduced at a Regular Meeting
of the Council of the City of Rancho Cucamonga held on the 4`h day of May 2011, and was
passed at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Rancho Cucamonga held on the
18`h day of May 2011.
Executed this 19`" day of May 2011, at Rancho Cucamonga, California.
~~~ r ~~~~
ice C. Reynolds, City lerk
Ordinance No. 841 -Page 5 of 5