Alhambra Municipal Code Ch. 9.77 Shopping Carts

This chapter shall be known as the “Shopping Carts Ordinance.”

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

The City Council finds and declares that:

(A) Abandoned shopping carts are increasingly pervasive in the community, litter the parkways and curbs of the city, create potential safety hazards to the public, and interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The accumulation of wrecked and dismantled abandoned shopping carts on public and private property tends to diminish property values and promote blight in the overall community.

(B) The purpose of this chapter is to prevent individuals from improperly using, altering, removing or abandoning shopping carts on public property, and to ensure that business owners take measures to prevent the removal of shopping carts from their business site, in a manner consistent with state law.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

ABANDONED SHOPPING CART. Any cart taken from a business site, without the written consent of its owner, to either public or private property.

ABANDONED CART PREVENTION PLAN. A document submitted by the responsible business owner pursuant to § 9.77.110 of this chapter.

AGENT. The person or persons designated in the owner's abandoned cart prevention plan as authorized to perform or provide retrieval services on behalf of the owner of the business. The AGENT may be the owner if so designated in the approved abandoned cart prevention plan.

CART. A basket mounted on wheels or a similar device, intended for the use of customers in a retail or commercial business establishment to transport goods of any kind within the confines of the business establishment, including the parking lot.

CITY MANAGER. The City Manager or the City Manager's designee.

OWNER. Any person or entity who, in connection with the conduct of a business, possesses, leases or makes carts available to customers or the public to transport merchandise on the business premises. For purposes of this chapter, OWNER shall also include the owner's designated agent.

PHYSICAL CONTAINMENT SYSTEM. Disabling devices on all shopping carts, which prevent them from being removed from the business premises by locking wheels or otherwise preventing the movement of shopping carts off the business premises or from the business entrance/exit.

PREMISES. The entire area owned, occupied and/or utilized by the owner, who provides carts for use by customers or other persons, including any parking lot or other property provided by or on behalf of the owner for customer parking or use.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07; Am. Ord. 4744, passed 12-10-18)

It shall be unlawful for any person to cause or permit any cart to be abandoned on or upon any sidewalk, street or other public area, or upon private property, other than the premises of the owner of such cart.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

It shall be unlawful for any person, either temporarily or permanently, to remove a cart from business premises, or be in possession of a cart that has been removed from business premises, which is properly identified in conformity with this chapter, without the written consent of the owner. This section shall not apply to carts removed as authorized by the owner for repair, maintenance or disposal.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

(A) No person shall use any shopping cart for any purpose other than that intended by its owner.

(B) It shall be unlawful for a business owner to have on its premises, for the use of its customers, shopping carts that the business knows bears identification belonging to a different business owner.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07; Am. Ord. 4744, passed 12-10-18)

No person shall alter, convert or tamper with any shopping cart, or remove any part thereof.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

Unattended shopping carts located on either public or private property without their owner's consent are hereby declared a nuisance.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

(A) Information required. Every cart owned or provided by any business owner shall have a sign permanently affixed to the cart that contains the following information:

(1) The identity of the owner, the business establishment, or both.

(2) Notification to the public that the removal of the cart from the premises is a violation of state and municipal law.

(3) The address or phone number of the owner of the business establishment for cart return.

(B) Languages required. The information required above shall be provided in English, Spanish and Chinese, or in such other language the City Manager may reasonably require.

(C) Disposal of abandoned carts lacking identifying information. Any cart found abandoned that does not have the identifying information required by this section shall be removed from the property and disposed of by the city or its authorized agent in accordance with the state law.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

Every business that owns or provides carts for the use of its customers within the city shall post conspicuous signs at or near each entrance to its parking lot and the public entrance doors to its store, notifying its customers that removal of carts from the premises without written authorization is prohibited.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07)

Every owner shall install a physical containment system to the reasonable satisfaction of the Director of Community Development or his or her designee.

(Ord. 4744, passed 12-10-18)

(A) Installation of the physical containment system required by § 9.77.110 shall be completed prior to the issuance of a business license to any owner for any business opened after the effective date of this chapter (“compliance date”).

(B) For each cart owner whose business is legally in operation before the compliance date, a six-month grace period will be provided to allow the owner time to evaluate its own rates of cart loss and

to secure and install an appropriate containment system. Any such cart provider who has not installed a physical containment system at the conclusion of the six-month period shall be in violation of § 9.77.110. An extension may be given at the discretion of the Director of Community Development or his or her designee based upon the owner showing a good-faith effort to comply and specific circumstances delaying compliance.

(Ord. 4744, passed 12-10-18)

Any owner who violates a provision of this chapter shall be subject to an infraction as provided for in § 1.12.011 of this code. All other violations of this chapter shall be misdemeanors.

(Ord. 4501, passed 9-10-07; Am. Ord. 4744, passed 12-10-18)