BACKGROUND:
As part of the 2022 Council Goals, Council requested that Code Compliance develop and implement a strategy to manage unpermitted street/sidewalk vendor activity.
Senate Bill (SB) 946, also known as the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act, was approved in 2018, making sidewalk vending in California legal, and prohibiting a local authority from regulating sidewalk vendors, except in accordance with the provisions of the Bill.
However, by local ordinance, a city may adopt additional requirements regulating the time, place, and manner if the requirements are directly related to objective health, safety or welfare concerns.
DISCUSSION:
The City has seen an increase in sidewalk vendors (primarily food vendors) over the last year. In our interactions with vendors, we have found most vendors do not have a City permit, do not have the required food handler permit issued by the Riverside County Department of Public Health and do not carry identification. Therefore, it has been difficult to address community and health concerns and has limited staff’s enforcement options in requesting the vendor leave the area, only to find the vendor has returned later in the day or the next day.
The draft ordinance is crafted to establish a street vendor permit program that complies with SB 946 and also addresses the City’s ability to address unlicensed vendors. It has recently come to light that just a few weeks ago SB 972 was signed into law by Governor Newsom. At first read, it does not appear that the attached draft Ordinance conflicts with SB 972. However, Staff and the City Attorney’s office will continue review of SB 972 to confirm initial determinations, particularly as it relates to the confiscation of perishable products from unlicensed vendors, and if needed, revisions will be made prior to the City Council considering the ordinance for first reading.
For discussion purposes, a draft of the ordinance that would regulate stationary and roaming food vendors is attached.
The draft ordinance would establish a City street vendor permit program that includes regulations to address the imminent danger to health and safety an unlicensed food vendor presents to the public and would allow Code Compliance Officers to seize and/or dispose of foods, goods and merchandise of an unlicensed vendor. Under the ordinance, perishable food or products could be seized at the first encounter and non- perishable goods at the second encounter. The ordinance would also allow removal of any cart creating an imminent safety hazard or is in a prohibited area. Again, this provision will be reviewed in light of SB 972.
The ordinance would also establish operational requirements including that vendors must display their permit, operate only on public sidewalks and during approved hours, maintain a clean and litter free area, and provide a trash receptable. Stationary vendors would be prohibited in residential areas and vending would be prohibited in the center median of any street.
State law prohibits cities from imposing criminal infractions or misdemeanors for violations of the ordinance. Therefore, the ordinance establishes a scheme for the imposition of fines based on whether the vendor is licensed or unlicensed.
The City currently has a peddler permit program regulating mobile vendors such as ice cream trucks and carts. Therefore, Chapter 5.48 (Peddlers) of the Municipal Code would also need to be amended for consistency with the draft sidewalk vendor ordinance. Under the draft ordinance, many peddler permittees would transition to the new sidewalk vendor permit program.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None