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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1302ORD 1302Ä—ÀHÄ—@¸—šÍ«ORDINANCE NO. 1302 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK, CALIFORNIA AMENDING SECTIONS 97.135, 97.136 AND 97.137 OF THE BALDWIN PARK MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO PLACES PERMITTED FOR COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION The City Council of the City of Baldwin Park does hereby ordain as follows: SECTION 1. The City Council hereby finds and determines as follows: A. The City of Baldwin Park maintains a system of streets, the purpose of which is to provide for the public health and safety by making available areas where motorized vehicles may travel with the least possible conflict with pedestrians. To provide an additional barrier between vehicular and pedestrian travelers and to improve the aesthetic character of the City, the paved portion of the public right-of-way dedicated to vehicular use is often separated from the areas utilized for pedestrian travel by areas developed with ground cover and other landscaping, or contains cut-out areas, such as tree-wells, where such landscaping has been installed and is maintained. B. Commercial and industrial property owners within the City are required by the City to maintain areas on their properties which are dedicated to use by persons occupying such properties or utilizing the businesses and services located on such properties for parking of their motorized vehicles so as to assure the vehicular access to such businesses and services which is necessary for the economic viability of such businesses and services. The City, too, maintains areas which are developed as parking lots to supplement the parking provided by private property owners so as to increase the ease of access to public and private facilities and to improve traffic flow by allowing for the restriction or elimination of parking on the street. Such parking areas may also include landscaping to provide shade and aesthetic improvement to the area, and walkways designated for use by pedestrians intended to help them travel safely from their parked vehicles to the structures on site. C. The City further maintains a system of sidewalks within public rights-of- way, generally adjacent to the public streets and/or the City's or privately owned properties' parking areas, the purpose of which is to provide for the public health and safety by providing places where pedestrians, including but not limited to persons in wheelchairs or utilizing other assisted modes of transportation, may safely travel without conflict with motorized vehicles. Minimum size standards for sidewalks have been developed by federal, state and county governments, including those contained in the California Building Code, with the goal of assuring clear passageways of a width sufficient to permit safe access by pedestrians, including persons utilizing wheelchairs. D. Commercial and industrial properties may also be developed with areas where vehicular access is restricted or prohibited so that pedestrian access to the businesses and services on the properties is more safely accommodated, including 01067/0026/49057.02 BIB] 39323-U01 ORD-U02 1302-U02 LI2-U03 FO8535-U03 FO101111-U03 DO107537-U03 C5-U03 ORDINANCES-U03 8/28/2007-U04 ROBIN-U04 ORD 1302Ä—ÀHÄ—@¸—šÍ«Ordinance No. 1302 Page 2 access by handicapped persons. One purpose of the design review required by the City for such properties is, in fact, to assure that the conflict between vehicles and pedestrians on private property is minimized to the greatest extent possible, to avoid the potential for injury to persons or property which arise from such conflicts. E. Pursuant to constitutional requirements, publicly owned sidewalks, as well as certain areas within certain commercial shopping centers, are recognized as a forum for the expression of activities protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Among such protected activities is the use of such areas for commercial solicitation, that is solicitation for the purpose of employment, sales, or other business activities. F. Usage of areas developed and intended for non-pedestrian use, such as streets, landscaped areas, driveway approaches, and parking lots, by persons who sit, stand or walk in such areas in order to conduct commercial solicitation, or by persons in vehicles who seek to solicit or respond to commercial solicitation from persons sitting, standing or walking in such areas creates a threat to the public health and safety, by significantly increasing the potential for damage to persons or property, including the potential for deadly accidents, as vehicles attempt to avoid persons in such areas, drivers of vehicles are distracted by such persons, and traffic becomes congested due to the interference with the normal flow of traffic caused by the use of such areas for such non-vehicular uses. G. Furthermore, commercial solicitation activities on sidewalks or other areas developed and intended for pedestrian passage may, if they interfere with the intended purpose of such areas, also create a threat to the public health and safety by causing pedestrians or persons requiring assisted mobility to have to leave appropriately paved and segregated areas and move into areas where the footing may be uneven, such as landscaped areas, or into areas where vehicular traffic is present. H. It is the intention of the City Council in adopting this ordinance to strike a balance between the needs of vehicles and pedestrians, including disabled individuals, for safe passage and the constitutional rights of persons to utilize for commercial solicitation those areas which have been determined by law to be public forums for such purposes. SECTION 2. Section 97.135 of the Baldwin Park Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 97.135 DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this subchapter, the following meanings shall apply: EMPLOYMENT. Any service, industry, or labor performed by a person for wages or other compensation, or under any contract for hire, whether written or oral, express or implied. BIB] 39323-U01 ORD-U02 1302-U02 LI2-U03 FO8535-U03 FO101111-U03 DO107537-U03 C5-U03 ORDINANCES-U03 8/28/2007-U04 ROBIN-U04 ORD 1302Ä—ÀHÄ—@¸—šÍ«Ordinance No. 1302 Page 3 PARKING AREA. Any portion of any property, whether publicly or privately owned, which is designed for the parking of vehicles including but not limited to any areas reserved within such portion of such property for access by vehicles to such parking e.g., a drive aisle), for landscaping, or for pedestrian access to structures on the property from a parked vehicle. PEDESTRIAN AREA. Any area of any publicly or privately owned property which is not within a parking area but which is designed for the passage of pedestrians, such as public sidewalks and walkways adjacent to privately owned structures. SOLICIT. The making of any request, offer, enticement, or action which announces the availability for or of employment, or the sale of goods; or of any request, offer, enticement, or action which seeks to purchase or secure goods or employment. A solicitation shall be deemed complete when made, whether or not an actual employment relationship is created, a transaction is completed, or an exchange of money or other property takes place. STREET. Any public street, avenue, boulevard, lane, road, alley, or other publicly owned property which is designed primarily for the passage of motorized vehicles. SECTION 3. Section 97.136 of the Baldwin Park Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 97.136 A) PROHIBITION OF SOLICITATION IN STREETS AND PARKING AREAS. It is unlawful for any person to solicit while lying, sitting, standing or walking in any place which is a street or parking area. B) It is unlawful for any person, while the occupant of a vehicle, to solicit any person who is lying, sitting, standing or walking in any place which is a street or parking area. C) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any person conducting such solicitation in a parking area which such person owns or legally occupies, provided all other requirements of law, including but not limited to any provision of this Code and/or any permit issued by the City, are otherwise complied with. D) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to waive any other requirement of law relating to the use of streets or parking areas. SECTION 4. Section 97.137 of the Baldwin Park Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: BIB] 39323-U01 ORD-U02 1302-U02 LI2-U03 FO8535-U03 FO101111-U03 DO107537-U03 C5-U03 ORDINANCES-U03 8/28/2007-U04 ROBIN-U04 ORD 1302Ä—ÀHÄ—@¸—šÍ« 97.137 Ordinance No. 1302 Page 4 SOLICITATION IN PEDESTRIAN AREAS. A) It is unlawful for any person to utilize any pedestrian area for the purpose of soliciting if such use results in there being less than three 3) feet of free and clear passageway in, along, and through such pedestrian area. B) Notwithstanding Subsection A) of this section, it is unlawful for any person to utilize any portion of a pedestrian area for the purpose of soliciting if such portion is either i) developed with landscaping material rather than paving or other material intended to be walked upon, or ii) developed with a driveway or driveway approach designed for the passage of motorized vehicles. C) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require a private property owner to permit solicitation at his/her premises. D) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to waive any other requirement of law relating to the use of pedestrian areas. SECTION 5. Section 97.138 of the Baldwin Park Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 97.138 PENALTY. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, a violation of this subchapter shall be deemed a misdemeanor, provided, however, that at the discretion of the enforcing or prosecuting authority, a violation of this subchapter may be charged and prosecuted as an infraction. SECTION 6. This ordinance shall go into effect and be in full force and operation from and after thirty 30) days after its final reading and adoption. PASSED AND APPROVED on the 6th day of June 2007 BIB] 39323-U01 ORD-U02 1302-U02 LI2-U03 FO8535-U03 FO101111-U03 DO107537-U03 C5-U03 ORDINANCES-U03 8/28/2007-U04 ROBIN-U04 ORD 1302Ä—ÀHÄ—@¸—šÍ«Ordinance No. 1302 Page 5 STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ss. CITY OF BALDWIN PARK I, LAURA M. NIETO, Deputy City Clerk, of the City of Baldwin Park, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance 1302 was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on May 2, 2007, and was adopted by the City Council at its regular meeting held on June 6, 2007 by the following vote of the Council: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Anthony J. Bejarano, Mayor Pro Tem Marlen Garcia and Mayor Manuel Lozano NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: David J. Olivas and Ricardo Pacheco ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE URA M. NIETO EPUTY CITY CLERK BIB] 39323-U01 ORD-U02 1302-U02 LI2-U03 FO8535-U03 FO101111-U03 DO107537-U03 C5-U03 ORDINANCES-U03 8/28/2007-U04 ROBIN-U04