City looks to crack down on cart clutter
Council to consider fees for shopping cart retrieval
LANCASTER — The Lancaster City Council will hold a public hearing today to consider whether to establish fees for the retrieval and daily storage of shopping carts located off of the cart owner’s premises.
The fees are intended to reimburse the City for costs associated with retrieval and storage of carts.
The proposed fees are $166.96 for all carts belonging to a single cart owner retrieved in one business day, $5 per cart for carts retrieved by the City’s cart retrieval contractor and $8 per day for cart storage.
In Sept. 2018, the City Council adopted the Shopping Cart Containment, Retrieval and Abatement ordinance that requires stores that use shopping carts to submit to the City, a cart containment and retrieval plan, to contract with a cart retrieval service and to implement approved containment plans.
The ordinance, in accordance with shopping cart provisions set forth in the California Business & Professions Code, also provided that the City may retrieve and impound shopping carts that are discovered off of the cart owner’s premises, according to a staff report.
“It further provides that the City may charge the store for the actual costs of retrieval and daily storage of a cart, which fees begin accruing three business days after notification to the store,” the report said.
At the time, City data showed that approximately 5,000 to 6,000 shopping carts were abandoned each year in the City. The City previously picked up the cost to retrieve and return the carts to their stores, which cost about $20,000 annually.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. It will be conducted telephonically and live streamed on Channel 28 and the City’s website at https://www.cityoflancasterca.org/connect/public-meetings
The public may comment on agendized items by calling 1-877-853-5257, using Meeting Id: 924 7620 6923# Password: 605326#.