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Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 6.B
Meeting Date: January 10, 2024
From: Andrew Firestine, Development Services Director
Title: Amendment to Master Schedule of User and Regulatory Fees - Street Vendor Permit
City Council
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council approve a resolution amending the fee schedule to reduce the code compliance fees for street vendor permits.
BACKGROUND:
The City adopted a schedule of user and regulatory fees in 2021 through Resolution No. 2021-27. The fee schedule included provisions for it to be updated annually on July 1 based on the All Urban Consumers Price Index (CPI -U) for Riverside San Bernardino - Ontario for the preceding 12 -month period ending in March. Amendments to the fee schedule were also anticipated to be coordinated on a regular basis.
The adopted fee schedule includes fees for street vendor permits, including both fees for an initial permit and a renewal. The current initial fee for a street vendor permit is $201 whereas a renewal fee is $105. These fees are applicable to sidewalk vendors, ice cream carts, and food trucks.
The City’s sidewalk vending regulations adopted in early 2023 identify the administrative fines as:
• Vending without a valid license or permit:
o $250 for a first violation
o $500 for a second violation within one year of the first violation o $1,000 for a third violation and each subsequent violation, within one year of the first violation
• All other violations:
o $100 for a first violation
o $250 for a second violation within one year of the first violation o $500 for a third violation within one year of the first violation o $1,000 for a fourth violation and each subsequent violation and revocation of the license or permit
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The administrative fines for vending without a valid license or permit are reduced by 50 percent when a valid permit has been issued before the fines are due.
Changes to California state law through Senate Bill (SB) 946 , and adopted through the City’s sidewalk vending regulations, require cities inform vendors of their right to request an ability -to-pay determination. If successful in establishing their inability to pay, a vendor will only be required to pay 20 percent of the imposed fine.
DISCUSSION:
Cities are no longer able to criminally cite sidewalk vending offenses as misdemeanor or infraction offenses. Instead, violations are only subject to administrative citations. The City’s Code Compliance Division, through its own interactions with sidewalk vendors and through dialogue and discussion with cities across the State , has found it difficult to identify sidewalk vendors, a necessary step to issue an administrative citation. Even then, the effect of the ability -to-pay determination is such that it may be less costly to a vendor to incur an administrative citation than to obtain a vendor permit.
Over the course of October and November 2023, the City’s Code Compliance Division launched an educational campaign that promoted the permitting and licensing of sidewalk vendors through the City and Riverside County, including a licensing event fair held at Panorama Park on November 28, 2023. Code compliance staff continue to provide licensing information to every sidewalk vendor it contacts.
In the interest of continuing to encourage the permitting and licensing of sidewalk vendors to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the City , and in recognition that the fines for an administrative citation , with the ability -to-pay allowable reductions, are less than the cost of obtaining a permit from the City, staff recommends reducing the cost of a street vendor permit and the renewal of a permit to $50 , subject to annual adjustment through the CPI-U.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The adopted fee schedule is intended to recover the City’s cost of providing services. If the fees to issue a street vendor permit or a renewal are reduced, the City would incur a loss on each permit or renewal it issues. Over the course of 2023, the City issued 10 street vendor permits and three renewals. As of December 21, 2023, none of these were for a sidewalk vendor, although the fee reduction would apply to all street vendors.
Should the City realize a similar demand for permits and renewals following a fee reduction, the net loss to the City would be approximately $1,500 to $2,000 annually.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal E: Cathedral City is safe for all who live, work, visit, and play in our community.
ATTACHMENTS:
Resolution - Fee Schedule - 1-10-24