The city council makes the following findings and declarations:
The accumulation of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping
carts, or parts thereof, on public property is found to create a condition
tending to reduce property values, to promote blight and deterioration,
to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health
and safety of minors, to be aesthetically detrimental to the community
and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare. Responsibility
for minimizing or eliminating this impact rests with individuals who
use shopping carts and the businesses which provide shopping carts
for their patrons. Therefore, effective containment or control of
the shopping carts shall be mandated, and the presence of wrecked,
dismantled or abandoned shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public
property, is declared to constitute a public nuisance which may be
abated as such in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005)
The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed
to them unless otherwise noted:
"Abandoned shopping cart"
means a shopping cart located outside the premises or parking
lot or facility of the business establishment which furnishes the
shopping cart for use by its patrons.
"Director"
means the director of community development or his or her
designate.
"Shopping cart"
means any basket of any size, mounted on wheels or a similar
device, including parts thereof, provided by a store operator for
the purpose of transporting goods of any kind within a business establishment
or designated parking or loading area of that business establishment.
"Shopping cart owner"
means the owner of the shopping cart, the agent of the owner
of the shopping cart, including individuals or business entities,
or the business establishment which furnishes the shopping cart for
use.
"Store premises"
mean the lot area, maintained and managed by the business,
that may include the building, parking lot and adjacent walkways,
and where the business' shopping carts are permitted.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005; Ord. 5803 § 24, 2013)
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the provisions
of this chapter shall be administered and enforced by the community
development and housing department and police department of the city.
In enforcing the provisions of this chapter, employees of the aforementioned
departments may enter onto public property to examine a shopping cart
or parts thereof, or to obtain information as to the identity of a
shopping cart owner, and to remove, or cause the removal of, a shopping
cart, or parts thereof, declared to be a nuisance pursuant to this
chapter.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005)
All shopping cart owners shall secure and continuously maintain
a service to retrieve shopping carts which have been removed from
their premises, and provide evidence thereof, to the director upon
request.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005)
Notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter
1.20 of this code, whenever in this chapter, any act is prohibited or declared unlawful or the doing of any act is required, or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, it shall be a misdemeanor for each incident and/or each day of failure to comply.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005)
This chapter is not to be construed as the exclusive regulation
of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping carts within the city.
It shall supplement and be in addition to other regulatory codes,
statutes and ordinances heretofore or hereafter enacted by the city,
state or any other legal entity or agency having jurisdiction.
(Ord. 5453 § 1, 2005)