Chapter 9.26 — SHOPPING CART REGULATIONS

• A. The city of Patterson has determined that the unauthorized removal of shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public and private property from retail establishments constitutes a nuisance, creates potential hazards to the health and safety of the public, and interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The accumulation of wrecked, dismantled, and abandoned shopping carts on public and/or private property creates conditions that reduce property values and promote blight and neighborhood deterioration within the city.

• B. The intent of this chapter is to ensure that shopping cart owners take measures to prevent the removal of shopping carts from business premises, to make the removal of shopping carts a violation of this code and to facilitate the retrieval and return of lost, stolen, or abandoned carts in a manner that complements and supplements provisions of state law.

• C. This chapter is not intended to duplicate state law or regulate any matters pertaining to shopping carts which are the subject of state law.

• D. To the extent any provision of this chapter is determined to be preempted by state law, it shall be deemed severed from all other provisions of this chapter and such other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. "Abandoned cart" shall mean any shopping cart that has been removed without written permission of the cart owner or on-duty manager from the premises of the business establishment, regardless of whether it has been left on either private or public property.

• B. "Business premises" shall mean the entire area owned and utilized by the business establishment that provides carts for use by customers, including any parking lot or other property provided by the cart owner for customer parking.

• C. "Cart owner" shall mean any person or entity, who, in connection with the conduct of a business, owns, leases, possesses, uses, or otherwise makes any cart available to customers or the public. For purposes of this chapter, "cart owner" shall also include the owner's onsite or designated agent that provides the carts for use by its customers.

• D. "Enforcement official" shall mean the city manager or other enforcement official as designated by the city manager.

• E. "Qualified cart retrieval service" shall mean a city approved commercial service operated by a third party and paid by a cart owner to retrieve and return shopping carts.

• F. "Shopping cart" shall mean 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. This definition shall exclude from enforcement under this chapter those devices which do not have a basket mounted on wheels in which goods can be placed for transport.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

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City of Patterson, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.26.030

§ 9.26.050

The city manager, and his or her designees, including designated code enforcement officers, shall have the authority and powers necessary to determine whether a violation of this chapter exists and to take appropriate action to gain compliance with the provisions of this chapter and applicable state codes. These powers include the authority to impound the shopping carts, issue administrative citations, inspect public and private property, impose civil penalties for any violation of this chapter, or pursue criminal actions.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. Each cart owner shall post and maintain a sign at each customer pedestrian exit at the owner's establishment which meet all of the following minimum specifications:

  1. Meet or exceed eighteen inches in width and twenty-four inches in height.

  2. Using block lettering not less than one-half inch in width and two inches in height, contain a statement to the effect that unauthorized removal of a shopping cart from the business premises, or possession of a shopping cart in a location other than on the business premises, is a violation of state law and city ordinance.

  3. List a local or toll-free telephone number for shopping cart retrieval.

  4. Cart removal warning signs shall not constitute "signs" for the purpose of calculating maximum allowable signage under Chapter 18.82.

  5. Cart removal warning signs shall be deemed "special purpose signs" under Section 15.32.190.

  6. The signs shall be conspicuously and prominently displayed on the interior walls of the building within two feet of each customer pedestrian exit.

• B. Each cart owner shall include clearly legible information on each shopping cart readily identifying its owner.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. Each cart owner must contain all shopping carts on the business premises at all times, subject to the exceptions set forth in Section 9.26.060.

• B. Every cart owner shall operate and maintain a shopping cart containment program pursuant to a shopping cart containment plan that contains all of the following provisions:

  1. Name of the Owner. The name of the business owner, the physical address of the owner's establishment, and the name, address and phone number(s) if different from the business owner.

  2. Inventory of Carts. A complete inventory of carts maintained on or in the business premises.

  3. Cart Identification. Shopping cart identification requirements pursuant to Section 9.26.040.

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City of Patterson, CA

PATTERSON CODE

§ 9.26.050

§ 9.26.080

4. Loss Prevention Measures. A description of the specific measures that the cart owner shall implement to prevent cart removal from the business premises. These measures may include, but are not limited to:

   • a. Placing signs directing customers not to remove the shopping carts from the business premises without express written consent of the cart owner;

   • b. Using courtesy clerks to accompany customers and return the carts to the owner's establishment;

   • c. Using security personnel to prevent shopping carts from being removed from the business premises or requiring a security deposit for use of a cart;

   • d. Providing small, two-wheeled shopping carts that a customer may rent or purchase for the customer's personal use;

   • e. Providing a neighborhood shuttle or other service to transport purchased goods for a customer;

   • f. Installing on shopping carts electronic disabling devices, such as wheel locks, which disable the cart upon crossing a barrier at the perimeter of the business premises;

   • g. Installing barriers on carts or at the doors, near the loading areas, or at other defined perimeters of the business premises to prevent the passage of a cart beyond such barrier.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

No person shall be deemed to be authorized to remove a shopping cart from the business premises unless such person possesses express written authorization from the cart owner. Written permission shall be valid for a period of time not to exceed seventy-two hours. A contract between the cart owner and a person to provide repair or maintenance of the owner's carts constitutes express written authorization for such person to remove the owner's carts for the purpose of repair or maintenance.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

A cart owner must submit a shopping cart containment plan that complies with the requirements established in Section 9.26.050, and any amendments to a shopping cart containment plan previously approved. The cart owner shall pay a fee upon submitting the plan or plan amendment for review of the plan or plan amendment in an amount established by resolution of the city council.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

Any person or business who engages in shopping cart retrieval must be registered with the city so as to provide contact names and phone numbers to city enforcement staff. Each shopping cart retrieval business shall retain records showing written authorization from the shopping cart

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City of Patterson, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.26.080

§ 9.26.110

owner, or any agent thereof, to retrieve the cart or carts and to be in possession of the cart or carts retrieved. A copy of the record showing written authorization shall be maintained in each vehicle used for shopping cart retrieval and presented to enforcement personnel upon request. (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. The city manager shall approve, conditionally approve, or deny a proposed shopping cart containment plan, and shall notify the cart owner of such decision within thirty days of receipt of the plan and payment of the fee required pursuant to Section 9.26.070. If approved, the cart containment plan shall be implemented by the cart owner no later than thirty days from the date of approval.

• B. A shopping cart containment plan or an amendment to a plan may be approved subject to conditions, or denied based upon one or more of the following grounds:

  1. Implementation of the plan violates any provision of the building, zoning, health, safety, fire, police, or other provision of this code or any county, state or federal law which substantially affects public health, welfare, or safety;

  2. The plan fails to include all of the information required by this chapter;

  3. The plan is insufficient or inadequate to prevent removal of shopping carts from the business premises as evidenced by data regarding the cart owner's abandoned shopping carts;

  4. The plan fails to address any special or unique conditions due to the geographical location of the business premises as they relate to cart retention and prevention efforts;

  5. Implementation of the plan violates another provision of the Patterson Municipal Code;

  6. The cart owner knowingly makes a false statement of fact or omits a material fact required to be submitted for the plan, or for any amendment to the plan or in any other information required by the city.

• C. Within fifteen days of the written decision of the city manager that a plan or amendment is incomplete or denied, the cart owner shall submit a revised or complete plan, as appropriate. The city manager may require specific measures to be included in the plan, including mandatory electronic disabling devices.

• D. The city manager may revoke any prior approval of a plan based on one or more of the grounds listed in subsection B of this section.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

Any cart owner that fails to submit a plan, implement the proposed plan measures, or implement any required modifications to the plan by the city within the time frames specified in this chapter shall be subject to a five hundred dollar civil penalty, plus an additional penalty of fifty dollars for each day of noncompliance.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

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City of Patterson, CA

PATTERSON CODE

§ 9.26.110

§ 9.26.130

Specific measures may be required by the city to prevent cart removal from the business premises if the business has had more than three carts impounded in any six-month period. These measures may include, but are not limited to: ordering the business to immediately install disabling devices on all of their shopping carts, requiring the posting of a security guard to deter and stop customers who attempt to remove carts from the premises, installation of bollards, chains or similar devices around the premises to prevent cart removal, or requiring that the business provide for the rental or sale of carts that can be temporarily or permanently used by customers for transport of purchases to a location outside the premises. (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. A cart owner shall be required to install a physical containment system to the satisfaction of the planning director when the cart owner establishes a facility consisting of more than five thousand square feet or more of new construction.

• B. A cart owner may be required to install a physical containment system to the satisfaction of the planning director and the city manager following the issuance of more than ten administrative citations in a thirty-day period.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

It is unlawful for any person to do any of the following:

• A. It shall be unlawful to either temporarily or permanently remove a cart from the premises or parking area of a business establishment without the express prior written approval of the cart owner or on-duty manager of the business establishment. Written permission shall be valid for a period of time not to exceed seventy-two hours.

• B. Except in cases where written permission is granted, it shall be unlawful to be in possession of a cart that has been removed from the premises or parking area of a business establishment unless it is in the process of being immediately returned to the cart owner or business establishment.

• C. To alter, convert, or tamper with a shopping cart, or to remove any part or portion thereof, or to remove, obliterate or alter serial numbers on a shopping cart or to be in possession of any shopping cart with serial numbers removed, obliterated, or altered, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the cart owner of possession of the cart.

• D. To leave or abandon a shopping cart at a location other than the business premises with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the cart owner of possession of the shopping cart.

• E. This section shall not apply to shopping carts that are removed for the purposes of repair or maintenance.

• F. Any person violating this section may be subject to any civil, criminal, or administrative remedies as provided by law. The enforcement official may issue to any person violating this section a fifty-dollar administrative citation.

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City of Patterson, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.26.130

§ 9.26.150

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. The city may retrieve an abandoned cart from public property (or private property with the consent of the property owner) in the following circumstances:

  1. Where the location of the shopping cart will impede emergency services;

  2. When the abandoned shopping cart does not identify the owner of the cart, as required in Section 9.26.040;

  3. When the city has contacted either the cart owner, the cart owner's agent, or the entity contracted by the cart owner under the abandoned cart prevention plan, and actually notified them of the abandoned cart and the cart has not been retrieved within seventytwo hours;

  4. When the shopping cart is in a public right-of-way.

• B. Alternatively to subsection A of this section, the city may immediately abate, remove, and impound an off-site shopping cart that has a sign affixed to it, as set forth in Section 9.26.040, if the city provides the cart owner, or whoever is identified by the cart owner as the party responsible for retrieval of the carts, with actual notice within twenty-four hours following the impound and informs the cart owner or responsible party of the location where the off-site shopping cart may be claimed. Notice may be made pursuant to Section 1.32.090.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. If the city retrieves a shopping cart, the city shall hold the shopping cart at a location that is open for at least six hours on a business day.

• B. In the event the city retrieves a shopping cart, the city shall notify the cart owner or the responsible party, as identified in Section 9.26.080, of the following:

  1. The location of the shopping cart(s).

  2. How the shopping cart(s) may be retrieved.

  3. Failure to retrieve the shopping cart(s) may result in the sale or destruction of the impounded shopping cart(s), and that the cart owner will be responsible for the city's costs, and that the city may fine owners fifty dollars after the city has picked up shopping carts belonging to the cart owner more than three times in a calendar year.

  4. If the shopping cart does not provide adequate identification or markings to determine its owner, the city shall only be required to notify the cart owner if the city obtains actual knowledge of the cart owner's identity.

• C. The city's enforcement officer may issue an administrative citation of fifty dollars per shopping cart to any cart owner who fails to retrieve off-site shopping carts in accordance with this chapter on three or more occasions in a calendar year.

• D. The enforcement officer shall impose an impound fee on each cart owner seeking to

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City of Patterson, CA

PATTERSON CODE

§ 9.26.150

§ 9.26.200

retrieve an impounded shopping cart. The amount of the impound fee shall be set forth in a resolution adopted by the city council that shall be reviewed biennially.

• E. Notwithstanding Section 9.26.160, the city shall not release an impounded shopping cart to the cart owner unless the owner pays all applicable administrative citation and impound fees.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

No administrative citation fine shall be levied against:

• A. A cart owner who installs and maintains a security system that causes a wheel of the shopping cart to lock when the conveyance is moved across an antenna located at the perimeter of the establishment's parking area.

• B. A business that owns or maintains fifteen or less shopping carts for use by customers.

• C. Nothing in this section shall preclude the city from imposing and collecting an impound fee prior to releasing any impounded shopping cart.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

If a shopping cart is not retrieved by its owner within thirty days after the cart owner has received notice of the cart being impounded, or if the cart's owner cannot be determined within thirty days after the cart has been impounded, the cart, pursuant to state law, may be sold or destroyed by the city, its agents, or contractors.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

• A. Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter may be subject to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties set forth in Chapter 1.32.

• B. Unless otherwise stated in this chapter, administrative penalties for violations of this chapter shall be assessed as follows:

  1. Fifty dollars for the first violation;

  2. One hundred dollars for a second violation; and

3. Two hundred dollars for any third and subsequent violation.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

Administrative citations issued pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to the procedures set forth in Chapter 1.44.

(Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

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City of Patterson, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.26.200

§ 9.26.200

Any recipient of an administrative citation issued pursuant to this chapter may appeal the citation pursuant to the procedures of Section 1.36.060. An appeal of any administrative citations issued pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to the enforcement hearing procedures of Section 1.36.020.

• (Ord. 797 § 1 (part), 2017)

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City of Patterson, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.27.010

§ 9.27.040