The City Council makes the following findings and declarations:
The accumulation and storage of wrecked, dismantled, or abandoned
shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public or private property is
found to create a condition tending to reduce property values, to
promote bright 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. Therefore, the presence of wrecked, dismantled,
or abandoned shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public or private
property, is declared to constitute a public nuisance which may be
abated as such in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
The following definitions shall apply to this chapter:
means a basket which is mounted on wheels or a similar device
generally used in retail establishments by a customer for the purpose
of transporting goods of any kind.
means and includes, but is not limited to, all areas dedicated
to public use for public street purposes, roadways, parkways, alleys,
sidewalks, flood control channels, and any public right-of-way.
means that area between the sidewalks and the curb of any
street, and where there is no sidewalk, that area between the edge
of the roadway and the property line adjacent thereto. Parkway shall
also include any area within a roadway which is not open to vehicular
travel.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
When a shopping cart is left standing on any public or private property, the shopping cart shall be deemed to be abandoned and therefore a public nuisance pursuant to this chapter. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to shopping carts left standing on private property (including the common areas of shopping centers adjacent thereto) of the owner of the shopping cart according to the name of such owner affixed thereto as required by Section 5-26.08 of this chapter. In the event that a shopping cart is left standing on any public or private property or, in the event the cart violates Section 5-26.08 of this chapter, the owner thereof shall be responsible and liable for the removal and disposition of the abandoned shopping cart as provided in this chapter.
The City Manager may exempt a shopping cart owner from the provisions
of this subsection if the cart owner has implemented a plan whereby
employees provide cart retrieval, or whereby the cart owner has entered
into a contract with a cart retrieval service and has provided the
City with proof of such contract, provided the frequency of cart retrieval
service meets the City Manager’s approval.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the provisions
of this chapter shall be administered and enforced by the City Manager
or his authorized representative. In the enforcement of this chapter,
the City Manager or his authorized representative may enter onto public
or private property to examine a shopping cart or parts thereof, or
to obtain information as to the identity of a shopping cart and to
remove, or cause the removal of, a shopping cart, or parts thereof,
declared to be a nuisance pursuant to this chapter.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
Upon discovering the existence of a wrecked, dismantled or abandoned
shopping cart, or parts thereof, on public or private property within
the City, the City Manager, or his authorized representative shall
have the authority to cause the abatement and removal thereof in accordance
with the procedure described in this chapter.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
The City Manager, or his authorized designee, may determine
that a wrecked shopping cart abated according to the provisions of
this chapter is in such poor condition that it may be immediately
disposed of. This action will be a discretionary decision of the City
Manager or his authorized designee.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
(a)
Upon
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 notify 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 10 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
30 days after such removal and upon the payment of reasonable administrative
fees. Such administrative fees shall be waived if, after a hearing
has been requested, a determination is made at such hearing that upon
a finding of good cause, the administrative fees shall be waived.
(b)
The
administrative fees for the removal and storage of the shopping cart
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 administrative
costs in connection therewith.
(c)
Any
hearing which is requested shall be conducted within five days of
the receipt of the request for such hearing, excluding weekends and
holidays, by the City Manager, or his/her designate, who should be
designated as the hearing officer. The failure of either the owner
or its agent to request a hearing shall satisfy the hearing requirement.
If it is determined at a 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 15 days from the date of the hearing to retrieve
its shopping cart upon payment of the administrative fee. 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 15 days to retrieve its shopping
cart from the storage area.
(d)
Any
shopping carts which are not retrieved by the owner of such shopping
cart within 30 days after the mailing of written notice of abatement
when such owner has not requested a hearing in accordance with this
section, or within 30 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 30 days
following such notice.
(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 times and places as 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 of the owner thereof.
(f)
The
proceeds of such sale shall be disbursed to the City.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
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 of their customers to take outside of the
buildings shall have firmly affixed thereto the owner’s identification.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
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.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
No person shall abandon or leave any such cart, wagon or device
which has been removed from the owner’s premises upon any public
street, alley, sidewalk, parkway or other public place, or upon any
private property (except that of the owner of the cart, wagon or device)
not under the control of such person abandoning or leaving such cart,
wagon or device.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
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.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
No person shall have in his/her possession any such cart, wagon or device which has been removed from the owner’s premises without authorization or which has been abandoned or left on private property under circumstances as described in Section 5-26.03 of this chapter unless such person so having possession has notified the Sheriffs’ Department of the presence and location of such cart, wagon or device.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
This chapter is not to be construed as the exclusive regulation
of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping carts with 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 other legal entity or agency having jurisdiction.
(§ 1, Ord. No. 742)
