Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 26022-02-2023 ORDINANCE NO. 26022-02-2023 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING APPENDIX B, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 3 "NUISANCES," OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (2015),AS AMENDED,BY PROVIDING REGULATIONS TO AND CONCERNING ABANDONED SHOPPING CARTS BY ADDING SECTION 11A-30 ABANDONED SHOPPING CARTS; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE OF ALL PRIOR ORDINANCES AND REPEAL CONFLICTING ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENALTY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS,the City Council of the City of Fort Worth ("City Council") seeks to protect public safety, preserve the environment, and promote efficiency within the City; and WHEREAS,the abandonment of shopping carts is an issue of concern to the City of Fort Worth and its citizens because the problem impacts every sector of the City; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes that such abandoned shopping carts constitute a nuisance, create potential hazards to the health and safety of the public and interfere with pedestrian and vehicular traffic; and WHEREAS, the abatement of these abandoned shopping carts places a financial burden on both the City and retail establishment therein; and WHEREAS, the prevention of shopping cart abandonment and the retrieval of carts promotes environmental health and public safety; and WHEREAS, to accomplish the aforementioned goals there is a need to collect shopping carts from public rights-of-way and provide a mechanism to allow retail owners to reclaim impounded shopping carts. NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH,TEXAS, THAT: SECTION 1. Appendix B, Article II, Division 3 "Nuisances," of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (2015), as amended, is hereby revised to add a new section to read as follows: § 11A-30 ABANDONED SHOPPING CARTS (a) Definitions. In this section. ABANDONED SHOPPING CART—Any shopping cart which has been removed from a retail establishment's premises and is unattended at the time of investigation. Abandoned shopping carts will be assumed to be the property of the retail business geographically closest to the cart's collection point based on logos, branding and/or retailer's name. OWNER - a person that operates, manages, or controls the retail establishment. PREMISES—The entire property owned or leased by the retail establishment, which provides shopping carts for use by its customers. In the case of a retail business located within a shopping center or shopping complex, the premises extend to include all parking areas and other common areas shared by the tenants therein. SHOPPING CART—means a basket that is mounted on wheels, or a similar device, generally used in a retail establishment by a customer to transport goods of and (b) Shopping Cart Identification. Owners of retail establishments providing shopping carts for customers may affix to the cart durable, weatherproof, and legible signs or markings identifying the name of the retail establishment. Retail establishments may employ unique color schemes and logos in lieu of the retail establishment's name. (c) Shopping Cart Control Plan. (1) Followingthe he impoundment of sixteen (16) or more abandoned shopping carts owned by any one retail establishment within a time period of six(6)months,the Code Compliance Director or designee may place the retail establishment on a Shopping Cart Control Plan and require the retail establishment to do any of the following to mitigate the loss of its shoppingcarts: arts: (i) Install wheel locks on all retail establishment shopping carts; or (ii)Affix to the carts a durable all-weather decal stating the following in legible letters: IT IS AN OFFENSE PUNISHABLE BY A FINE UP TO $500 TO POSSESS THIS SHOPPING CART AT A LOCATION OTHER THAN ON THE PREMISES OF THE RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT THAT OWNS THIS SHOPPING CART.; or (iii) Any other reasonable measures that the retail establishment and the Director or Designee may agree to. (2) A retail establishment may only be released from a Shopping Cart Control Plan if the retail establishment complies with the requirements provided in the Shopping Cart Control Plan and the retail establishment does not have more than two (2) shopping carts impounded by the City within a six(6)month period after the effective date of the Shopping Cart Control Plan. (d) Offenses (1) The owner commits an offense if the City has impounded sixteen (16)or more abandoned shopping carts owned by the retail establishment (2) A person commits an offense if they have failed to comply with any requirements stated in a Shopping Cart Control Plan. (3) It is a defense to prosecution if the retail establishment has installed a functioning wheel- lock system on its shoppingcarts. arts. (e) Retrieval and Impoundment (1) The City ay collect and impound any abandoned shopping cart located on public property. In the event an abandoned shopping cart is found on public property and is damaged, no longer functional, has no legible identifying markings, or presents a public health and safety concern, the City may dispose of the cart immediately and in a method the Code Compliance Director or designee deems appropriate. (2) An abandoned shopping cart collected and impounded by the City may be made available to the retail establishment for reclamation for a period of thirty (30) days from the date provided in the notice to the owner of the impoundment at a designated location determined by the City. (3) Each abandoned shopping cart collected and impounded by the City of Fort Worth will be released to an owner or employee of the retail establishment upon payment of a recover fee to the City, which shall be established by City Council. Each shopping cart shall be charged a separate recovery fee. A recovery fee shall not be assessed to any abandoned shopping cart that is collected and impounded, if it has a functioning wheel-lock system installed. (4) In the event an abandoned shopping cart is not reclaimed within thirty (30) days after the owner is notified of the impoundment, the City may dispose of the cart in a method the Code Compliance Director or designee deems appropriate. (f) Penalty. Any person violating_the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500. SECTION 2. That these ordinances shall be cumulative of all other ordinances of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, and shall not repeal any of the provisions of such ordinances, except in those instances where provisions of such ordinances are in direct conflict with the provisions of this ordinance. SECTION 3. That all rights or remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of the City Code, or any amendments thereto that have accrued at the time of the effective date of this ordinance; and as to such accrued violations, and all pending litigation, both civil and criminal, same shall not be affected by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts. SECTION 4. That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of these ordinances are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of these ordinances shall be declared void, ineffective or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs or sections of these ordinances, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation herein of any such void, ineffective or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence,paragraph or section. SECTION 5. That any person, firm or corporation who violates, disobeys, omits, neglects or refuses to comply with or who resists the enforcement of any of the provisions of these ordinances shall be fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars($500)for each offense.Each day that a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. SECTION 6. That the City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth,Texas,is hereby directed to publish these ordinances for two (2) days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, as authorized by the V.T.C.A. Local Government Code Subsection 52.013. SECTION 7. These ordinances shall take effect after adoption and publication as required by law. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: ATTEST: By: iYpt-w- Assistant City Attorney City Secretary Adopted: February 28, 2023 Effective: a0a OF F0� Ic • f:�11 City of Fort Worth, Texas Mayor and Council Communication DATE: 02/28/23 M&C FILE NUMBER: M&C 23-0189 LOG NAME: 23ABANDONED SHOPPING CART ORDINANCE SUBJECT (ALL)Adopt an Ordinance Amending Appendix B,Article II, Division 3"Nuisances"of the Code of the City of Fort Worth,Texas to Regulate Abandoned Shopping Cart and Establish an Abandoned Shopping Cart Recovery Fee in the Amount of$50.00 Per Shopping Cart Recovered From Impoundment RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council: 1. Adopt the attached ordinance to amend Appendix B,Article II, Division 3"Nuisances", by adding section 11A-30 to Regulate Abandoned Shopping Carts 2. Establish an Abandoned Shopping Cart Recovery Fee of$50.00 per shopping cart recovered from impoundment;and 3. Amend the fee schedule of the City of Fort Worth to establish an Abandoned Shopping Cart Fee to be effective within ninety(90)days of adoption. DISCUSSION: Abandoned shopping carts have frequently been discarded in public rights-of-way;in waterways and stormwater drainage systems;and in public spaces(e.g., bus stops or parks)which detract from community appearance while creating safety hazards along streets or trails. Retailers that provide shopping carts offer these carts as a convenience for customers, but do not want shopping carts removed from their property or stolen. While promoting a clean and safe community,this ordinance is developed to support building strong neighborhoods which include our retail business partners. Currently,the City has the authority to immediately remove items within its right-of-way that present a public health and safety concern and dispose of such items. This ordinance establishes abandoned shopping carts as a nusiance. Under this ordinance,City staff will remove the abandoned shopping carts within the City's right-of-way and dispose of the shopping carts immediately or provide the retailers an option to recover their carts from a designated location within 30 days for a fee. Furthermore,this ordinance allows for the City to issue citations to owners of retail establishments that fail to retrieve abandoned shopping carts or comply with a Shopping Cart Control Plan. The ordinance encourages responsible shopping cart management,works to reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts within the community,and establishes a procedure for collected shopping carts to be reclaimed or discarded. It also establishes a related recovery fee for any abandoned shopping carts that are collected by City staff.Most importantly,this ordinance seeks to only regulate businesses that fail to retreive their abandoned shopping carts and will have no impact on retail businesses that are maintaining their shopping carts on their property. Overview of the Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance: 1. Provision for City staff to remove abandoned shopping carts from public rights-of-way and provide an option for business owners/operators to recover abandoned carts for a period of thirty(30)calendar days at a location determined by the City. 2. Provision for City staff to dispose of collected shopping carts after thirty(30)calendar days or immediately dispose of any abandon shopping cart found in the public right-of-way if the cart cannot be identified,damaged,or is not functional. 3. Encourages carts to be identifiable to the store through a placard or recognizable color scheme and logo in case they are removed from their business premises and abandoned. 4. Allows business owners the opportunity to recover carts for a fee of$50.00 per cart recovered within thirty(30)calendar days. 5. Requires businesses to install one or more,best management practices within a Shopping Cart Control Plan,such as sensor-based wheel locks,signage,or additional cart corrals to address frequent violations; if their carts are regularly removed from their property and abandoned. 6. Creates a Class C misdemeanor for having sixteen (16)or more abandoned shopping carts impounded by the City or not complying with a Shopping Cart Control Plan imposed by the City. 7. Creates a defense for retail operators that have installed and maintained functional sensor-based wheel lock systems to control carts. 8. Confirms that a recovery fee shall not be assessed to any abandoned shopping cart that is collected and impounded, if the abandoned shopping cart has a functioning wheel-lock installed. Staff recommends the addition of an Abandoned Shopping Cart Recovery Fee to be added to the Code Compliance Department's approved Schedule of Fees,at a rate of$50.00 per cart recovered from impoundment.The proposed changes to the fee schedule are necessary to reimburse the City for partial cost of retrieval and storage of abandoned shopping carts.This fee structure also creates an incentive to encourage the businesses to retrieve their shopping carts from public spaces within twenty-four(24)hours of notice prior to City staff retrieval of the carts. Staff recommends the adoption of this ordinance to help minimize the amount of abandoned shopping carts found in the City. If adopted, City staff will ensure a communication plan is implemented to inform all retail operators of the purpose of the ordinance. It is anticipated that this ordinance will reduce the incidence of abandoned shopping carts being discarded, stolen and dumped. A Form 1295 is not required because:This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity. FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION: The Director of Finance certifies that upon approval of the above recommendations and establishment of an abandoned shopping cart recovery fee,funds will be deposited into the Environmental Protection Fund.The Code Compliance Department(and Financial Management Services) is responsible for the collection and deposit of funds due to the City. Submitted for City Manager's Office by: Valerie Washington 6199 Oriainating Business Unit Head: Brandon Bennett 6322 Additional Information Contact: David B.Carson 6336 Expedited