Another SLO County city could crack down on abandoned shopping carts. Here’s why

Another city in San Luis Obispo County could crack down on abandoned shopping carts.

On Tuesday, the Morro Bay City Council reviewed an ordinance that holds businesses responsible for abandoned shopping carts, and creates a system that seeks to prevent shopping cart theft.

Abandoned shopping carts are a safety hazard, pollute rivers and streams, and “make the city look not as beautiful as it needs to be,” Morro Bay Police Department Chief Amy Watkins said at the meeting.

During discussion, City Council member Jen Ford said she recently spotted abandoned shopping carts on State Parks land near her house. She said she’s glad the city is creating plan for preventing abandoned shopping carts and retrieving them when they do end up on the street.

“I see this as a positive move in the right direction,” Ford said.

In 2021, the San Luis Obispo City Council and the Santa Barbara City Council passed a similar ordinances that held businesses responsible for abandoned shopping carts.

The Morro Bay City Council will vote on whether or not to pass its own shopping cart ordinance at a meeting Dec. 12, according to City Clerk Dana Swanson.

New code would require businesses to retrieve abandoned shopping carts

The ordinance takes a few steps to reduce the amount of abandoned shopping carts in the city, according to Morro Bay Fire Department Chief Dan McCrain.

The ordinance would require businesses to label their shopping carts with the business name, address and phone number, along with a warning that stealing the cart violates state and city law.

Each business also must secure shopping carts during off hours, and submit a plan to the Morro Bay Fire Department explaining how it prevents shopping cart loss.

A business would have 72 hours to retrieve an abandoned shopping cart after being notified of its location.

After 72 hours, the city would retrieve the cart and fine the business $50 for the cost of service.

“This is for recovering costs that the city incurs for having to go out and retrieve and store these carts,” McCrain said.

Right now, police officers and Morro Bay Public Works Department staff retrieve abandoned carts, according to Watkins.

As of the Tuesday night meeting, the city held about 50 abandoned shopping carts.

“What we’ve seen recently is (businesses) allow these carts to leave the property,” Watkins said. “They’re not going out to get them — they just order new carts. That puts the burden on the city to pick up the carts, destroy the carts and fill out landfills with these metal carts and plastic carts.”

Requiring businesses to retrieve their shopping carts will save the city money and staff time, she said.

“Every time we touch one of these carts, that is effecting our bottom line,” Watkins said. “This ordinance is putting that onus back on the business.”

At least six businesses in Morro Bay provide shopping carts: Albertsons, Rite Aid, Miner’s Ace Hardware, Spencer’s Fresh Market, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, according to McCrain.

McCrain and Watkins met with managers at those businesses, who said they supported the ordinance, according to McCrain.

“This is not meant to be an expense to businesses,” McCrain said. “This is meant to be a partnership between the businesses and the city.”

Watkins said shopping carts cost between $200 to $280, so businesses prefer not to lose them in the first place. Requiring businesses to have an abandoned shopping cart mitigation plan helps them train new staff and gives the business an opportunity to work with the city to recover lost carts, she said.

State law already prohibits stealing shopping carts from businesses, Watkins said, but the ordinance provides an avenue for the city to enforce the law.

If a police officer sees someone stealing a cart, the officer can’t penalize the person unless the business owner presses charges. Oftentimes, however, businesses don’t press charges because they “don’t want to be involved in low-level crimes,” Watkins said. “That’s a barrier to enforcement.”

This ordinance gives the city a path to enforce state law without needing the business to press charges, according to Watkins.

How would the ordinance impact people who are homeless?

Officials on Tuesday night said they were aware that people who are homeless sometimes use shopping carts to transport their belongings.

When police officers spot an abandoned shopping cart that appears to be filled with personal items, they do their best to find the individual who owns the items, Watkins said.

If the owner is absent, the officer discards trash in the cart and stores any valuable belongings at the Morro Bay Police Department for 90 days, according to Watkins. Individuals can pick up their belongings from the Police Department, she said.

When Morro Bay resident Terry Simmons drove to the meeting on Tuesday, he said he saw an elderly woman pushing a shopping cart down Morro Bay Boulevard piled high with her belongings.

Meanwhile, Simmons said, a man occasionally abandons his shopping cart filled with items in Simmon’s neighborhood.

Simmons said he supports the shopping cart ordinance, but worries about people who are homeless that need a way to store their belongings.

He suggested that the city create a program that lends people a cart or wagon to transport their belongings so they don’t steal shopping carts from businesses.