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Ordinance 1993-04 ORDINANCE NO. 93 - 4 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GILROY ADDING CHAPTER 19A TO THE GILROY MUNICIPAL CODE REGULATING ABANDONED SHOPPING CARTS. WHEREAS, there have been increasing problems experienced in the City of Gilroy with abandoned shopping carts found to be littering public property within the City of Gilroy creating traffic hazards, blockages of storm drainage channels and related problems which are detrimental to the public health and safety. NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GILROY DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section I. A new Chapter 19A is hereby added to the Gilroy Municipal Code to read as follows: Chapter 19A Shopping Cart Regulations. Section 19A.1 Declaration of public nuisance. The City Council hereby makes the following findings and declarations. The accumulation of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public property is found to create a condition tending to reduce property values, to promote blight and deterioration, to constitute an attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to be aesthetically detrimental to the community and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare. Therefore, the presence of wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping carts, or parts thereof, on public property, is declared to constitute a public nuisance which may be abated as such in accordance with the provisions of this article. Section 19A.2 Definitions. Definitions as used in this article: (a) "Public property" shall mean and include, but not be limited to, all that area dedicated to or in public use or an easement granted for public street purposes, parks, alleys, sidewalks, flood control channels and any public right-of- way including private parking lots upon which the City Police Department enforces certain provisions of the Vehicle Code and property owned or administered by the City of Gilroy. ORDINANCE NO. 93 - 4 Section 19A.3 Administration and enforcement. Except as otherwise provided herein, the provisions of this article shall be administered and enforced by the City Administrator or his designated agent, to include the Public Works, Parks and Recreation' and Police Departments of the City of Gilroy. In the enforcement of this article, employees of the aforementioned departments may enter onto public property to examine a shopping cart or parts thereof, or to obtain information as to the identity of a shopping cart and to remove, or cause the removal of' a shopping cart, or parts thereof, declared to be a nuisance pursuant to this article. Section 19A.4 Shopping cart abatement. Upon discovering the existence of a wrecked, dismantled or abandoned shopping cart, or parts thereof, on public property within the City of Gilroy, the previously-mentioned City Departments shall have the authority to cause the abatement and removal thereof in accordance with the procedure described in this article. Section 19A.5 Post Abatement Procedures and Charges. (a) Upon the abatement and removal of any shopping cart within the City of Gilroy, the Director of Parks and Recreation or designate shall notify the owner thereof, if known, by mailing a "Notice of Abatement" to the last known address of the owner of the cart. Such notice shall state the date the cart was removed from public property, the location and procedure for retrieving the cart. Any such shopping cart removed and stored pursuant to these provisions shall be released to the owner and upon the payment of reasonable redemption fees. After ninety (90) days, unclaimed carts can be sold at a noticed public auction. If the auction is unsuccessful, the carts can be disposed of. (b) Redemption and disposition fees shall be established or modified by resolution of the City Council and shall include the actual cost of removal of any shopping cart, or parts thereof, the cost of disposal, plus the proportionate share of administrative costs in connection therewith. The schedule for such charges shall remain on file and be available in the Department of Finance of the City of Gilroy. --2-- (c) Ail shopping carts which have not been claimed by their owners within ninety (90) days shall be subject to sale at public auction upon notice published at least once, at least five days before the time fixed therefor, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the City of Gilroy. Any property remaining unsold after the auction may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of, and the costs of such destruction or disposition shall be charged to the owner, if known, and constitute a debt payable by the owner to the City which may be collected in a civil action. (d) In the event that the sums received upon the sale as described in subparagraph (c) above do not satisfy the actual cost of removal and administrative costs incurred, the balance shall be a debt payable by the owner to the City which may be collected in a civil action. Section 19A.6 Identification of shopping carts. Ail shopping carts used in the City of Gilroy shall be properly identified by the owner thereof, including the name, address, and telephone number of the local store in which said shopping cart is to be used. Section II. In the event any provision of this ordinance is held to be void and unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions of this ordinance shall continue to be in full force and effect. Section III. The existing Chapter 19A of the Gilroy City Code, entitled "Smoking Pollution Control", shall be renumbered Chapter 19B, and all sections therein shall be renumbered accordingly. The foregoing ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the Gilroy City Council on the February 1, 1993 and was finally passed and adopted at a meeting of said Council on the 22nd day of February, 1993 by the following vote: AYES: NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: GILROY, HALE, KLOECKER, NELSON, ROWLISON, VALDEZ and GAGE. COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT:COUNCILMEMBERS: None Clerk'- ~ -3- ORDINANCE NO. 93 - 4 APPRO~D: Mayo~/ I, SUSANNE E. STEINMETZ, City Clerk of the City of Gilroy, do hereby certify that the attached Ordinance No. 93-4 is an original resolution, duly adopted by the Council of the City of Gilroy at a special meeting of said Council held on the 22nd day of February , 1993 , at which meeting a quorum was present. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Official Seal of the City of Gilroy this 23rd day of February , 19 93. (Seal)