5.25.020 Shopping carts – Restrictive devices required – Violations – Penalties.
A. On or after June 1, 2022, any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity commencing operation of a retail establishment on any premises within the city shall have all shopping carts, owned, leased or which they are in lawful possession of, continuously equipped with a restrictive device that prevents their removal from the premises. The economic and community development services director or his designee shall not issue a certificate of occupancy for the premises without a certification from the owner that all shopping carts owned, leased or which they are in lawful possession of are so equipped. The city shall charge a fee for the certification as provided in this code.
B. On or after January 1, 2022, any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity operating a retail establishment on any premises within the city shall have all shopping carts, owned, leased or which they are in lawful possession of, continuously equipped with a restrictive device that prevents their removal from the premises. Each person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity operating a retail establishment on January 1, 2022, shall file a certification with the economic and community development services director or his designee that all shopping carts owned, leased or which they are in lawful possession of are so equipped.
C. As an alternative to subsection (B) of this section, any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity operating a retail establishment within the city on or after June 1, 2022, shall enter into a contract with a business of shopping cart retrieval that complies with the provisions of this subsection (C) to recover shopping carts unlawfully removed from the premises of the retail establishment. If a business of shopping cart retrieval service cannot be secured, a cart retrieval plan of action must be presented to and approved by the city. In order to comply with this alternative, the contract and plan of action shall meet all of the following:
1. They must be in writing. A copy of the contract and cart retrieval plan of action shall be filed annually with the city. If the retail establishment terminates an existing contract and enters into a new contract, the new contract must be filed with the city within 30 days following entry into the contract.
2. The contract with the business of shopping cart retrieval and cart retrieval plan of action must remain continuously in place. If the retail establishment does not have a contract that meets the requirements of this subsection for more than 30 consecutive days, it shall immediately comply with the provisions of subsection (B) of this section.
3. The retail establishment shall pay an annual fee which shall be used to cover the city’s costs in administrating this provision and removing any carts under the control of the retail establishment from any place within the city. For any retail establishment under 30,000 square feet the annual fee shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) and for any retail establishment over 30,000 square feet the annual fee shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00).
4. The retailer shall continuously meet the requirements of MCC 5.25.040 and have the name and phone number of the cart retrieval service attached to all shopping carts owned, leased or which are in lawful possession.
5. The retail establishment shall be required to file the annual certificate of compliance required by subsection (B) of this section and shall attach all required documents to indicate compliance with this subsection.
6. In the event that 25 shopping carts under the control of a retail establishment using this section were logged as being collected, deposited and impounded with the city within any 12-month period, the economic and community development services director may order the retail establishment to comply with the provisions of subsection (B) of this section and prohibit use of this alternative. For purposes of this subsection, “impounded” means that the shopping cart has been placed in a city controlled storage yard and the requisite notice provided to the owner.
D. Failure to equip a shopping cart with a restrictive device as provided in this section shall be a civil infraction. The court shall impose a civil sanction for each shopping cart that is not equipped with a restrictive device. Each failure to equip a shopping cart with a restrictive device shall be deemed a separate violation of this section. It shall be presumed that all persons, partnerships, corporations or legal entities having control of shopping carts are subject to the provisions of this section. The burden of rebutting this presumption by compliance with the alternative contained in subsection (C) of this section shall be on the legal entity having control of shopping carts.
E. Failure to file a certification with the city as required by this section shall be declared a civil offense. [Ord. 21-07 § 2; Res. 21-28.]