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Council Agenda - City of BurbankTuesday, March 20, 2007Agenda Item - 2 |
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Council Agenda - City of BurbankTuesday, March 20, 2007Agenda Item - 2 |
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to present for Council�s consideration an ordinance which enacts regulations concerning the issue of abandoned shopping carts in the City of Burbank. This ordinance amends the Burbank Municipal Code by adding Section 31-1121 to Chapter 31.
BACKGROUND
At the August 23, 2005 Council meeting staff provided Council with a report on the issues involved with abandoned shopping carts. Attached as Exhibit A, is a copy of the staff report for that meeting. At the conclusion of staff�s presentation a motion was made for staff to return in the near future with a City of Glendale-style, containment �Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance�. However, there was only four Council Members present at this meeting and the motion resulted in a split vote and consequently did not pass.
Continued Council deliberations that evening resulted in direction for staff to wait for the effective date of the Glendale ordinance and later return with a progress report on the status of that ordinance. Council also directed staff to return with information gathered from public outreach efforts to understand the public�s perspective on this subject. In preparation for reporting back to Council, staff has been in continual contact with City of Glendale officials concerning their ordinance which became effective January 1, 2006. In addition, staff conducted an abandoned shopping cart public outreach meeting on April 17, 2006 at the Buena Vista Library auditorium. This information, along with information staff has gathered from recent and past public inquiries and complaints concerning the issue of abandoned shopping carts, will be discussed further in this report.
Planning Board Review of the Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance Staff returned to Council on July 25, 2006 and was directed to refer a Council-reviewed Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance to the Planning Board for their recommendations. A copy of the July 25, 2006 staff report and minutes from that meeting are attached (Exhibit B and Exhibit C). At that time Council directed staff to return at a later date with the Planning Board�s recommendations and set the matter for a public hearing.
On November 13, 2006 the Planning Board reviewed the proposed Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance. Attached (Exhibit D and Exhibit E) are the staff report and minutes of that Planning Board meeting whereby the Planning Board voted 4-0 to approve a resolution adopting the proposed ordinance. At this meeting the Board made two recommendations, but neither of their recommendations concerned the actual text of the ordinance. The Planning Board�s recommendations involved policies relevant to implementation of the proposed ordinance. The first Board recommendation requested staff to research the possibility for the City to provide senior citizens access to small, personal shopping carts. The second recommendation was to provide sufficient time for businesses to prepare for the effective date of an adopted ordinance. Both of these Planning Board recommendations will be discussed further in this report.
ANALYSIS
Abandoned shopping carts have been an increasing problem in many California communities. These carts are a visual blight as well as potential hazards for pedestrian and vehicular traffic on streets, sidewalks, parkways, alleys, flood control property, railroad crossings/tracks, and private property. In addition, dirty abandoned shopping carts that are placed back into service without being sanitized are a public health concern. The issue of abandoned shopping carts is a difficult issue to resolve because of a protective state law which limits a city�s ability to provide uninhibited and expeditious impoundment relief. It is for these reasons Council wished to resolve these problems. As such, this report discusses the following:
(#1) How Many Abandoned Shopping Carts Are In Burbank?
A survey of Burbank businesses has determined that there is an approximate shopping cart population in Burbank in excess of 6,725 carts (survey attached as Exhibit G). Trying to count abandoned shopping carts within a particular period of time is difficult, therefore for purposes of this report assumptions will need to be made. Such as, if at any particular time 10% of the Burbank�s shopping cart population is abandoned in Burbank, there would be a minimum of 670 carts temporarily abandoned on either public or private property. The estimated number of abandoned shopping carts in Burbank remains high even if the estimated percentage of abandonment is reduced to 5% (335 abandoned carts), or 2.5% (168 abandoned carts). Staff has determined by conducting citywide surveys that the number of abandoned shopping carts in Burbank can vary from 400 to over 500 carts daily.
(#2) Why Is It That The City Cannot Easily Impound Abandoned Shopping Carts?
All California cities are limited in their efforts to expeditiously abate the issues of blight, liability, and potential health hazards associated with abandoned shopping carts because of the imposition of the protective California State Shopping Cart Law (B&P, Section 22435, attached as Exhibit F). Consequently, California cities have to either work within the restraints of this law, which usurps an extraordinary amount of personnel resource time, or as the City of Glendale accomplished, adopt and enact an ordinance which restricts shopping carts to the premises of the cart owners.
The California State Shopping Cart Law became effective in 1997. Since that time the number of abandoned shopping carts has increased significantly in Burbank. Staff theorizes that in addition to the impacts of the California Shopping Cart Law there has been a significant increase in abandoned shopping carts in Burbank because of:
(#3) Current State Law
In 1997, Chapter 19 of the California Business and Professions Code was amended such that, with non-emergency or non-hazardous circumstances, there are restrictions on local governments for enacting legislation which would expedite the removal of abandoned shopping carts from the public right-of-way. This law is known as the California State Shopping Cart and Laundry Cart Law. Consequently, because of the preemptions of this law local governments are limited in how to legislatively address issues associated with abandoned shopping carts.
(#4) Why Is The California Shopping Cart and Laundry Law Difficult For Local Government?
Provisions of the California Shopping Cart Law allow abandoned shopping carts, which are not impeding emergency services, to remain at the abandoned location for three working days (72-hours) prior to abatement efforts by a city. Further, this law also requires that after the 72-hour period has lapsed and an abandoned shopping cart has been impounded, the local jurisdiction must notify the owner of the cart of the impoundment within a 24-hour period.
If the owner of the cart responds within three working days to pick up a cart that has been impounded, no impound fee, storage fee, fine, or other charges may be rendered by the impounding authority. Fees may only be levied beginning on the fourth working day after the official notice of impoundment has been delivered. Overall, it is very difficult for cities to recover enforcement costs, which includes impoundment fees, if the owner of the abandoned cart acts within three working days in response to impoundment notification. If an abandoned cart is not reclaimed 30 days after the impound notice has been given, then, and only then, can the impounding authority dispose of the abandoned cart. Selling the abandoned shopping cart is not much of an option therefore the landfill is the most logical, yet environmentally unsound, resolution for resolving this portion of the abandoned shopping cart issue.
State law does not preclude the removal of a cart from a business premises to be considered a theft. However, rarely will a cart owner, if ever, press charges against their clients for the removal of carts from their premises. Consequently, it is not feasible to think that utilizing policing authority to cite persons with carts off premises will be a permanent solution. In addition, if police resources were directed to do this, it would require a re-prioritizing of police duties which are already strained trying to meet the public�s general policing needs.
Additional requirements of state law mandate that for the removal of a shopping cart from premises to be considered illegal, the cart must be equipped with a proper sign. This sign must be permanently affixed to the cart and will:
(#5) How Do Other Cities Deal With The Issue of Abandoned Shopping Carts?
Burbank is joined by many other California cities, such as Glendale, Long Beach, San Jose, Berkeley, Oroville, Colton, and Milpitas who, short of seeking an amendment to the state law, are currently researching or utilizing ways to effectively address this issue. Glendale, in particular has recently enacted an effective shopping cart containment ordinance which is reported to have reduced abandoned shopping carts in their city by 95%.
Before the Glendale ordinance, there were two other primary avenues most cities explored as solutions. One avenue is to partner with the local retail industry, those who are primarily responsible for abandoned shopping carts, to educate both them and the public relative to the facts surrounding this matter. The next avenue, which is a costly one, is to fund the application of strong code enforcement of existing state law, and in some circumstances augment this program by adopting a local shopping cart ordinance. However, the newest method for dealing with this issue, which is the primary method staff is interested in, is the new Glendale Shopping Cart Containment Ordinance.
(#6) The Glendale Shopping Cart Containment Ordinance
After three years of consideration and study, the City of Glendale developed a new approach for resolving the growing abandoned shopping cart problem. The Glendale ordinance involves amending the Zone Text of the Glendale Municipal Code to define shopping cart usage as a land use. As a land use, this provides municipalities more options in dealing with abandoned shopping cart issues because they can now work on resolving the problems associated with abandoned shopping carts beyond the restrictions of the State Shopping Cart Law.
Since the Glendale ordinance is a Zone Text Amendment, the ordinance required review by both the Glendale City Council and the Glendale Planning Board. Consequently, as a zoning use, Glendale was able to develop its own standards for the manner in which shopping carts are to be controlled by the businesses which own these carts and as such, have the ability to exercise their police powers through the enforcement of their zoning laws.
The Glendale ordinance requires businesses which provide clientele shopping carts, to implement containment or control methods for keeping the carts from leaving the business premises. Glendale�s ordinance doesn�t specify a particular system or method for how containment or control is to be accomplished. Instead, this ordinance sets measures in the Zone Text which establish a standard of no more than five carts being allowed off the business premises within a 24-hour period. Violations of this standard are considered citable offenses. In addition, a violation of this standard requires the violating business to place into effect a mandatory containment system.
Containment can be achieved by various methods or control. Such control ranges from the newer hi-tech technologies, to simple traditional methods of security. The newer technologies mostly involve magnetically locking wheels. The businesses known as Cart Tronics, Gatekeeper, and Uncart are examples of such magnetically controlled systems (Exhibit H). Currently, the �Burbank Target� store at the Empire Center, the �99 Cent Only Store� on Buena Vista, the �Walgreens� store on Alameda, and the �Home Depot� on Flower St. all utilize this magnetically locking wheel containment technology which has resulted in very few of their shopping carts being abandoned on public and private property.
Another feature of the Glendale ordinance is that the ordinance also mandates that at all times stores either maintain a self-retrieval service or utilize professional commercial cart retrieval services. Attached is Exhibit I which details the various cart retrieval methods businesses in Burbank utilize which include: a third party professional cart retrieval service; a containment system; a self-cart retrieval system; or, no retrieval service at all.
Currently in Burbank 19 businesses, which represents 35% of Burbank businesses which own shopping carts and also represents 16% of the overall shopping cart population, do not have any formalized or on-going shopping cart retrieval service system. There are 27 businesses, 50% of the stores which have shopping carts, representing approximately 65% of Burbank�s shopping cart population, which utilize professional commercial shopping cart retrieval services. Three stores, 4% of Burbank�s stores which have shopping carts, representing 4% of Burbank�s shopping cart population, conduct self-retrieval. The remaining four stores, which represent 15% of the overall shopping cart population in Burbank, have containment systems which are magnetically controlled. These stores report very few, if any of their carts leave the premises and become abandoned.
The initial ordinance, which Glendale staff presented to their City Council, originally required that cart containment systems be installed or implemented on all the premises which utilize shopping carts. In other words, each store had to have a containment system in place to achieve a �no abandoned carts (zero tolerance) policy�. However, a more conservative approach was adopted establishing thresholds which allow a certain number of abandoned carts, within a specified period of time, to be off the premises. Since the implementation of the Glendale ordinance on January 1, 2006, Glendale reports a 95% compliance rate and has determined that their ordinance is successful and has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of abandoned shopping carts in Glendale. Glendale also reports that the majority of abandoned shopping carts are either imports from Burbank, Los Angeles, or Eagle Rock, or that the abandoned carts are previously stolen carts which are now coming out of garages and other storage areas.
(#7) What Types of Containment and Security Systems Are Currently Available?
The different types of containment systems vary widely relative to the needs of a particular business as well as cost. Some examples of currently used systems are:
(#8) Fiscal Impacts of Installing Containment Systems
The least costly containment system is the barrier system which may include installing bollards on a property which prevents carts from leaving a building or leaving a close location to the building. Depending on the complexity, size, and scope of installation, a magnetically locking-wheel system can cost between $10,000 to $40,000. However, over a period of time, ranging from one to two years, the magnetically-locking wheel systems of cart containment pays for itself by not requiring cart owners to incur the direct costs associated with retrieving their abandoned carts. In addition, over time, containment systems will save cart owners money because they will no longer be expending as much money on shopping cart retrieval services and have fewer stolen and damaged carts. Ultimately, their customers benefit because the costs associated with abandoned shopping cart retrieval will not be passed on to the consumer.
The primary fiscal impact argument for the installation of shopping cart containment systems is that businesses already have on-going costs associated with shopping carts becoming stolen, abandoned, and damaged. These on-going costs will either be entirely eliminated or be substantially reduced when an effective containment system is in place. As such, a business with an effective cart containment system will immediately begin realizing cost recovery by saving the money currently being expended on stolen, abandoned, and damaged carts. Depending on which containment system is utilized, over a period of time, containment systems have the potential for paying for themselves through a reduction in costs associated with retrieval services, cart replacement, and cart repair.
The type of containment system installed by a business is not specified in the ordinance. The only requirement pertaining to containment is that the containment system must be approved by the City of Burbank. The initial determination of what containment methodology is to be used by each business will be a decision made by the business itself. If the system chosen for use is not sufficient to fulfill the threshold number of abandoned carts, then the business will be required to continue modifying their containment system until they no longer exceed the five abandoned shopping cart threshold within a 24-hour period.
(#9) Educational Programs
Some communities, including Burbank, have stressed public education in an attempt to try to minimize the negative effects of abandoned shopping carts. Education is an attempt to work within the State law and functions by teaching a community how to be a �watchdog� service for working within the parameters the California Shopping and Laundry Cart Law. Educational programs provide the public with information concerning the provisions of the state law which protect abandoned shopping carts from expeditious municipal abatement. Such programs also provide the public with telephone numbers of commercial cart retrieval services and the retail store telephone numbers for the owners of the abandoned shopping carts.
Educational programs do provide some relief by informing the public about what the state law requires concerning abandoned carts. However, depending on the scope of the educationally based programs, usually the cost of the program is absorbed by local government. Educational programs tend to perpetuate stagnant perceptions concerning the acceptance of abandoned carts as being a part of a community�s normal landscape. Unilaterally, educationally based programs do not stimulate, nor induce the largest abandoned shopping cart violators into taking pro-active leadership roles while trying to resolve the blight, hazards, and unsanitary conditions brought about by their abandoned carts.
As mentioned, educational programs may or may not have a large associated cost. These programs can vary widely and may include some or all of the following elements:
(#10) Targeted Code Enforcement Program with Dedicated Funding
Abandoned shopping cart programs which stress strong code enforcement targeted towards abatement of carts must function within the parameters of the state law. These programs operate with personnel who are primarily dedicated to oversee abandoned shopping cart issues. Usually programs of this nature are conducted by larger cities because they have a greater potential for having dedicated personnel resources to conduct these types of programs. Such programs must observe the state law requirement for: an observation standard of 72-hours; the 24-hour impoundment notification requirement; and, conclude with an impoundment which prohibits the collection of impound fees for the first three working days.
A specialized code enforcement program such as this is usually not blended into the daily code enforcement routines for all inspectors. A program of this nature is generally assigned to one inspector as their primary job function. One benefit of this type of an enforcement program is the immediate positive impact of abandoned cart removal from public property caused by planned �sweeps� of the city. These �sweeps� pickup unmarked abandoned carts (no ownership identification on the cart) which may immediately be impounded and destroyed.
Targeted abandoned shopping cart code enforcement programs can be successful when they are coordinated to augment the work of commercial shopping cart retrieval services. These retrieval services are already picking up carts for businesses which have contracted for this service. However, shopping cart retrieval services will only pick up carts that belong to the businesses they are contracted with. Not all businesses which have shopping carts subscribe to a commercial shopping cart retrieval service. As previously mentioned, 35% of Burbank�s shopping cart population belong to stores which do not subscribe to a cart retrieval service.
Dedicated abandoned shopping cart code enforcement programs are costly and usually become a drain on personnel resources when these resources are diverted from other code enforcement programs and priorities. The success of these programs lasts as long as the funding provided to conduct this type of code enforcement continues. Sustained success is dependent on continued funding and prioritization of workload assignments. If funding appropriation is discontinued, the program deflates and abatement reverts to previous abatement levels.
An example of this scenario is the City of San Jose, which is the tenth largest city in the nation and the largest city in Northern California. In 2001, the City of San Jose adopted a shopping cart ordinance. In addition to working within the parameters of state law, San Jose�s ordinance requires each business to provide an Abandoned Cart Prevention Plan which includes a minimum of the following components:
The San Jose ordinance requires that qualifying businesses, those with more than 25 carts, file an Abandoned Cart Prevention Plan at the cost of between $135 to $150 per year. It was proposed that $10 of this fee for the first year was to be utilized to fund a citywide educational outreach program. The balance of the fee requirement would be augmented with Solid Waste Funds and be utilized to help fund the three full-time positions hired to conduct this program.
San Jose increased staffing levels by adding a code enforcement officer, a clerical worker, and a street maintenance worker to monitor and enforce both the application of the City�s ordinance and the enforcement of the state law. Although, San Jose�s approach was labor intensive, and thereby costly, theoretically their ordinance did provide General Fund cost recovery through the appropriation and collection of �plan� fees.
Generally, energies and resources dedicated to new cart retrieval programs initially have a favorable impact. However, favorable impacts will dwindle as resources devoted to these programs are not renewed, severely cut, or as resources are re-deployed to other priority areas of code enforcement. San Jose�s ordinance was successful for a brief period of time. However, in an effort to address a budget deficit, funding for this program was cut and remaining resources were reprioritized. Recently, the City of San Jose reported to Burbank staff that San Jose�s Abandoned Shopping Cart Program is no longer effective because of the lack of dedicated personnel to enforce the ordinance.
(#11) Deposit Method of Cart Control
There is another method of cart control which is not widely used in the United States, and is most commonly found in European countries. This method is the �deposit method� and essentially is premised on persons making a monetary deposit for the temporary use of a cart and upon return of the cart the deposit money is returned or credited. Although staff has no direct knowledge or experience with this method of abandoned cart control, it is being mentioned because it is a consideration that could be adopted widely in the future if businesses which supply shopping carts to their clients make infrastructure and policy changes to accommodate this methodology.
(#12) Legislative Options
The legislative process created the current California Shopping and Laundry Cart Law. Although not expeditiously practical, consideration for amending existing state law to provide more of a local government perspective could be a solution. The current law was enacted as a result of effective lobbying efforts conducted through strong special interest groups. However, legislative solutions are generally uphill battles which are usually lengthy and filled with compromises which could dilute original logic intended for better solutions. Therefore, staff feels that while in the long run the legislative option can be a permanent fix, usually such options involve lengthy and �give and take� negotiations which are not as expeditious as self-enacted ordinances such as the Glendale Shopping Cart Ordinance.
(#13) Shopping Cart Retrieval Services
As previously mentioned, it is estimated that there is in excess of 6,600 shopping carts in Burbank. When shopping carts are removed from the premises of the business which owns the carts the resulting abandoned shopping carts are usually returned by one, or a combination of four different methods. Those methods are:
For most large businesses, commercial shopping cart retrieval services are the predominant method for returning abandoned shopping carts. Owner-conducted shopping cart retrieval is the predominant method of returning carts for smaller businesses. However, 35% of Burbank�s shopping cart owners have no cart retrieval service whatsoever.
Commercial shopping cart retrieval services work with businesses through a contractual agreement. Payment for retrieved carts can be based on a per-cart principle (example, $3 per cart), or on a per-truck load principle (example, $14 for a load of ten to 12 returned carts). The most important fact about shopping cart retrieval services is not the number of carts they pick up, but the number of carts they don�t pick up. Commercial shopping cart retrieval services will only retrieve carts for businesses which have contractually agreed to pay for the retrieval service. Consequently, if a cart retrieval service comes upon a group of abandoned carts at one location such as a bus stop, they will only pick up the carts belonging to the businesses which have contracts with them while ignoring and leaving the remaining abandoned carts.
Businesses know that for the most part, by state law, their abandoned carts can remain abandoned for 72-hours before action can be taken by local government to remove the carts. Consequently, in a cost saving effort, many businesses which contract with a cart retrieval service do not contract for retrieval service all seven days of the week. Many businesses which contract with shopping cart retrieval services only utilize retrieval services for two or three days a week. Because there are so few days a week carts are picked up, this is a contributing factor for protracting the amount of time a shopping cart will remain abandoned and consequently increases the number of abandoned shopping carts in a community.
(#14) Environmental and Health & Issues
An argument can be made that shopping carts, in this case abandoned shopping carts, provide an environmental benefit to a community. Use of a shopping cart as a method of conveyance, can be a factor for the reduction of the number of motor vehicles contributing to traffic congestion and thereby decreases associated air pollution in addition to decreasing the use of limited parking spaces within a community.
During discussions of how to approach solutions to abandoned shopping carts, the issue of environmental pros (less traffic, air pollution, trash and debris, etc.), and cons (blight, theft, unsanitary and hazardous liabilities, and landfill issues), will be factors for consideration. This report acknowledges that environmental pros and cons most likely exist, however, this report does not determine if benefits outweigh liabilities when studying the overall environmental impacts brought about by the use of shopping carts.
From a public health perspective, unsanitary abandoned shopping carts which are immediately placed back into use can be cause for concern. Staff has observed numerous abandoned shopping carts which have been used for the storage and transfer of various kinds of unsanitary materials, animals, auto and mechanical parts, and in general, debris, available for public use upon the return of the carts to the owners. Attached as Exhibit J, are photos of abandoned shopping carts which contain unknown, non-food materials which are not intended for shopping cart storage or transport. Common sense suggests that such carts should be subjected to cleaning and sanitizing before being placed back into service.
(#15) The Proposed Burbank Shopping Cart Ordinance
The proposed ordinance would create a new development standard for shopping cart containment that would apply to all commercial and industrial zones. The text of the ordinance defines words and terminologies pertinent to the administration and enforcement of the ordinance. Of particular note, as discussed earlier in this report, is the threshold number of five allowable abandoned shopping carts permitted to be off a business premises within a 24-hour period without triggering the requirement for a business to install a containment system.
(#16) Enforcement of the Proposed Burbank Shopping Cart Ordinance
To enact this ordinance staff must create enforcement policies that are consistent and easily achievable. The proposed ordinance requires a quantifiable number of abandoned carts to exist within a determined timeframe prior to there being a violation of the ordinance. Therefore, for the first six months to a year of the ordinance, staff is prepared to conduct visual observations of businesses which utilize shopping carts. In particular, staff will look closely at the businesses that have a poor record of abandoned shopping carts or are complacent about shopping cart retrieval.
The enforcement policies will require accountability and documentation of violations. Therefore, staff will observe carts as they are removed from a business premises and when abandoned, staff will tag the abandoned cart with a numbered removable decal sticker which documents the time and location of the abandoned shopping cart. As additional documentation proof, the abandoned cart will be photographed. Further enforcement will include immediate impoundment of the abandoned cart if it does not have proper ownership identification as required by state law.
The ordinance also requires that businesses post appropriate signage in a conspicuous location on the business premises within two feet of all customer entrances and exits stating, at a minimum, the following:
REMOVAL OF SHOPPING CARTS FROM THE PREMISES IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. B & P Code Section 22435.2
Therefore enforcement will include making sure all businesses which utilize shopping carts have the requisite signage on their premises and upon request, provide information concerning shopping cart use, loss, and recovery specific to that business location. Businesses will be further required to provide other pertinent information deemed reasonable for making a determination as to the adequacy of the shopping cart containment system or control method. The penalty for violating any portion of the ordinance shall be a misdemeanor and any violation of this ordinance shall constitute a separate offense for each and every day during which a violation is committed or continued.
(#17) Educational Element
As with all new ordinances the educational element of the ordinance is very important for successful implementation. As such, staff is recommending a long delay from ordinance adoption to its effective date of January 1, 2008. This will provide ample time for staff to conduct a thorough educational program. The following process will be included, but not limited to, a lengthy educational program targeting both Burbank�s business community and the residential population:
(#18) How Will the Ordinance Impact Those Who Utilize Abandoned Shopping Carts?
During past deliberations both Council and the Planning Board expressed concerns about the inability for those who currently utilize shopping carts to continue to transport their purchases. Councilmember Ramos expressed concerns about meeting the needs of citizens who reside in the five focus neighborhoods. The Planning Board was more concerned about senior citizens who would no longer have the ability to remove shopping carts from a business site for their personal use. To address these issues, staff has developed the following two programs for Council�s consideration:
Purchase / Give-Away Program
Staff has researched the possibility of creating a program to distribute portable, personal shopping carts to qualifying residents. Such a program would involve making portable two or four wheeled shopping carts available to qualifying residents. The carts easily fold down for placement under standard-sized commercial shopping carts. To accomplish such a program, whether temporarily or permanently, there are several logistics to consider, foremost to identify the program�s funding source.
Staff has been searching for funding sources in: the General Fund; grant program funding connected with seniors, low income programs, recycling, and transportation programs; and the Redevelopment Agency budget. The only funding currently available is $5,000 in the Redevelopment Agency�s budget. This funding could be used in conjunction with community education and outreach efforts in Burbank�s five focus neighborhoods, but not citywide. Therefore, with a restricted $5,000 funding source it is apparent that any proposed personal shopping cart give-away program would not be a benefit citywide. However, staff is preparing the FY 07-08 budget, and if Council is determined that a personal shopping cart program would be invaluable for augmenting the adoption of a Burbank Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance, then it is an opportune time for Council to consider funding the program through the General Fund for a citywide program.
Rebate Program
Staff feels there is a better approach than a give-away program. This better approach would not only reach more residents, but would enhance participant responsibility and accountability through a buy-in process. If Council wishes to provide personal shopping carts to qualified residents, staff recommends a citywide rebate program. A rebate program would not only enhance participation, responsibility, and increase choices as to which type of a personal cart fits individual needs, but it would also reduce many of the logistic problems associated with a give-away program. Some of these logistic problems include: cart storage space; limitation of cart choice; utilization of staff or volunteer time to conduct the distribution of personal shopping carts; and the accountability of tracking cart inventories susceptible to cart damage and theft.
Of course, a rebate program needs funding. An example of how this funding could be used is, if Council appropriated $5,000 in the FY 07-08 General Fund budget for a citywide personal shopping cart rebate program, and established a 50% rebate of the cost of a personal shopping cart not to exceed $20 per cart, then 250 personal shopping carts could be subsidized. If $10,000 were appropriated, $5,000 from the General Fund and $5,000 from the Redevelopment Agency for low income qualifiers, then 500 carts could be subsidized, and so on. Attached as Exhibit K, is an example of a personal shopping cart which costs $32.40 with tax. Given a 50% rebate scenario, this cart would cost the program participant $16.20.
A rebate program could be promoted for a set period of time, such as January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008, in anticipation of Council adopting the ordinance with an effective date of January 1, 2008. A program of this nature will require qualifying participation standards such as any combination of: economic; disabled; age (seniors); or transportation needs. A centralized rebate administration location would also need to be identified. Candidates for such a location vary from: the Recycling Center; any of the focus neighborhood centers; volunteering markets in Burbank; the Joslyn or Tuttle Senior Centers; or the License and Code Services Division office.
(#19) Implementation Date of an Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance
Staff feels that the effective date of the proposed ordinance, if adopted, should be a minimum of six months from the date of adoption. This timeframe is recommended because of the potential start-up logistics associated with businesses rethinking or retooling their shopping cart retrieval or containment policies to meet the standards of the ordinance. A prolonged implementation date will also provide both businesses and the City sufficient time to develop solid public education, implementation, and enforcement plans.
CONCLUSION
During past deliberations by the Council and the Planning Board, it has been determined that abandoned shopping carts create community-wide blight in addition to potential pedestrian and vehicular hazards on public property. In response to this, Council has directed staff to conduct a public hearing for Council�s consideration of an Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance which would substantially reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts in Burbank.
Staff is recommending Council adopt the ordinance to require all Burbank-based businesses utilizing shopping carts to install a shopping cart containment system when their business has more than five abandoned shopping carts within the specified 24-hour period from 12 am to 11:59 pm. The type of shopping cart containment system to be used is unspecified, but must be approved by the City to qualify as satisfying the requirements of the Abandoned Shopping Cart Ordinance. A business is considered in compliance with the ordinance if there is no record that their business has more than five shopping carts abandoned within the specified 24-hour period.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the ordinance entitled �AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK ADDING SECTION 31-1121 TO CHAPTER 31 OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO SHOPPING CARTS.�
EXHIBITS
A August 23, 2005 Council Staff Report B July 25, 2006 Council Staff Report C Minutes from July 25, 2006 Council Meeting D November 13, 2006 Planning Board Staff Report E Minutes from November 13, 2006 Planning Board Meeting F Copy of State Shopping Cart and Laundry Law G Abandoned Shopping Cart Survey H Technology Security Systems for Shopping Carts I Burbank Survey J Abandoned Shopping Cart Photographs K Example of Personal Shopping Cart
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