Sudbury — Sault Ste. Marie city council is hoping a new bylaw will help them deal with the nuisance of abandoned shopping carts.
Meeting on Monday, council approved a new law that will require merchants to create a system to ensure the carts aren't abandoned on private property.
The system has to do a number of things, including a plan for retrieving the carts outside of their premises, naming a person responsible for the system, and a description of their shopping carts.
Once established, the system has to be approved by the city.
"Failing to adhere to an approved system is considered an offence and charges may be laid," said a staff report on the bylaw.
"Further, if the director subsequently determines that an approved system is no longer satisfactory, the director shall give notice to the business owner who shall in turn be required to submit a new System for review and approval."
Fines for failing to comply with the new bylaw are a maximum of $5,000 for each offence.
The bylaw prohibits businesses from allowing carts to be removed from the premises, or face charges. If a cart is found on private property, and it presents a safety hazard, the city will remove it and the business will be charged with costs. Otherwise, the business will be given time to remove it.
"If the business owner fails to comply with the terms of the written notice, the chief building official or an authorized agent of the city may collect and remove the cart at the expense of the business owner," the report said.
No specific timelline
The bylaw does not stipulate how long businesses have to comply with the order, but leaves it to the discretion of the city official. While a 10-day limit was proposed, business owners were concerned.
"A business that provided input on the shopping cart bylaw expressed their concern about using the typical 10-day timeline," the report said. "The business advised that they already experience great challenges arranging for the collection of carts in such short timeframes."
Further, the report said any court challenges to the bylaw would likely require businesses are given a reasonable amount of time to deal with the issue.
Unlike other cities with a similar bylaw – Ottawa, Guelph, Markham, etc. – Sault Ste. Marie will not store stray shopping carts it collects but will dispose of them because of the costs involved.
"Storage would be outdoor which presents practical challenges to the storage of the carts themselves especially given the winter climate experienced in Sault Ste. Marie, along with the significant resources that would be necessary to maintain, categorize and permit the retrieval of carts," the report said.
"Also, the city would be responsible for the care/condition of the carts while storing same which creates other challenges and issues. Staff also do not recommend that the city take on the role of collecting/returning of carts to a business.
"As set out in the resolution, taxpayer funds should not be expended on such matters given that most businesses do comply and the goal is to ensure that a business owner creates a system for the management of its own shopping carts/retrieval of same."
The new law takes effect in September to give businesses time to prepare.
Read the full report here.
Correction
This story has been updated to reflect the fact councillors met Monday, not Tuesday.
