For City Council Meeting [October 8, 2019]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Rod Foster, City Administrator
FROM: Fred Galante, City Attorney
Title
Request City Council to Set a Public Hearing for October 22, 2019 to Consider Adoption of an Ordinance Implementing Regulations on Sidewalk Vendors
Body
BACKGROUND
This proposed Ordinance seeks to provide a regulatory scheme for sidewalk vendors, in compliance with Senate Bill 946 ("SB 946"). This bill was passed last year, and came into effect on January 1, 2019. The proposed Ordinance would amend the Rialto Municipal Code ("RMC") to remove sections not in compliance with SB 946, and add sections creating a regulatory scheme in compliance with SB 946.
By passing SB 946, the State Legislature prohibited local governments from regulating sidewalk vendors within their own jurisdictions, except in accordance with state law. SB 946 lists a number of regulations that a local government is authorized to impose. All adopted local regulations must be related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns.
A copy of SB 946 is attached to this staff report for reference. (Exhibit A)
The bill defines "sidewalk vendor" and makes a distinction between "stationary sidewalk vendor" and "roaming sidewalk vendor", and also provides which local government regulations may be applied to each definition. The regulations allowed pursuant to SB 946 include limitations in residential zones, limitations in parks with concessions, limits on hours of operation, sanitary requirements, compliance with ADA requirements, local permit requirements, compliance with Health Department regulations, and distance requirements from farmers' markets and special events.
The proposed Ordinance (Exhibit B) would generally keep City regulations in place for vendors who do not meet the state law definition of sidewalk vendors (e.g. vendors using a vehicle or motorized conveyance), exempt sidewalk vendors from regulations that m...
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