Chapter 6.05 — SHOPPING CART REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL

The city council finds that abandoned shopping carts constitute a nuisance, creates potential hazards to the health and safety of the public, and interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic within the city. The accumulation of wrecked, dismantled and abandoned shopping carts on public or private property also tends to create conditions that reduce property values, promoting blight and deterioration in the city.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

Words used in this chapter are defined as hereinafter provided, unless the context or usage clearly dictates another meaning:

"Abandoned cart" means any cart that has been removed from the premises of the business establishment and deposited upon any public or private property. This provision shall not apply to carts that are removed for purposes of repair or maintenance.

"Cart" means a basket which is mounted on wheels or a similar device provided by a business establishment for use by a customer for the purpose of transporting goods of any kind, including, but not limited to grocery store shopping carts.

"Cart owner" or "owner" means any person or entity, who in connection with the conduct of a business, including but not limited to a food dispensing business, owns, rightfully possesses, or makes carts available to customers or the public and shall include the owner's on-site or designated agent that provides the carts for use by its customers.

"Occurrence" means each day that a cart remains unreclaimed by the cart's owner after the owner has been provided with notice of the discovery and location of the cart. An occurrence includes all carts owned by the owner that are impounded by the city in a one-day period.

"Premises" means the entire area owned, occupied, and/or utilized by the business establishment that provides carts for use by customers or other persons, including any parking lot or other property provided by the owner for customer parking or use.

"Person" means any person, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust or other entity.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

The presence of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public property or private property, is declared to constitute a public nuisance.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

It is unlawful for any person, or agent thereof, to leave or permit to be left, any cart either owned by him/her/it or in his/her/its possession, custody or control, upon any public or private property except the premises of the business establishment itself.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

Any cart owned or provided by any business establishment in the city must have a sign permanently affixed to it that contains the following information:

(a)

Identity of owner of the cart and name of the business establishment;

(b)

Notifies the public that removal of the cart from the premises is a violation of state law and the Campbell Municipal Code;

(c)

Provides a telephone number to call to report location of abandoned cart;

(d)

Identifies an address for returning the cart to the owner or the business establishment;

(e)

Such other information authorized by applicable law.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

(a)

It is unlawful to either temporarily or permanently remove a cart from the premises or parking area of the business establishment that provided the cart without the express prior written consent of the owner or on- duty manager of the business establishment.

(b)

It is unlawful to be in possession of a cart that has been removed from the premises or the parking area of a business establishment.

(c)

This section does not apply to carts that are removed for the purposes of repair or maintenance authorized by the owner.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

The owner shall be responsible for the removal and disposition of the abandoned cart as provided by this chapter. Any owner who fails to retrieve abandoned carts in accordance with this chapter in excess of three times during the same six-month period, shall be subject to a fifty dollar fine for each occurrence.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

Pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 22435.7, the city shall provide actual notice to the owner of any abandoned carts owned or used by the business establishment that have been located within the city. The owner shall have three business days from the date the notification is given, to retrieve the carts. If the location of the cart impedes emergency service, then the three-business-day notification will not apply and the city may immediately retrieve the shopping cart from private or public property.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

In the event that the city impounds an abandoned cart, the city shall provide actual notice to the owner of the impoundment within two working days of the impoundment. The notice shall include information on the method to retrieve the cart. The cart must be redeemed within thirty days by the owner upon proof of cart ownership, payment of unpaid fines, and the actual cost to the city for the removal, storage and administrative notification. If the cart is not redeemed within thirty days, owner shall be deemed to have forfeited owner's rights to the cart, and the city may dispose of it as the city sees fit.

Any cart found abandoned on public or private property that does not have the signage and information required by this chapter shall be deemed abandoned by the owner, and may be removed and disposed of by the city without notice, as the city sees fit.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).

Whenever the city is required or authorized to provide actual notice to the owner pursuant to this chapter, the owner will be deemed to have actual notice of the information imparted on the completion of any of the following:

(a)

A telephone call to a live person at the telephone number provided on the sign required in Section 6.05.060;

(b)

Delivery of a written notice addressed to the owner, by the United States mail, or an equally or more reliable delivery service, to the address set forth on the sign required in Section 6.05.060; or

(c)

Personally serving a written notice to the owner, or any employee or agent of the business establishment located at the address set forth on the sign required by Section 6.05.060; or

(d)

By contacting the owner by other reliable means of communication as may be authorized by applicable law as designated on the sign required in Section 6.05.060.

(Ord. 1991 § 1(part), 2000).