RESEARCH DIVISION
Joint
Rules, LUZ, and RCD Committee sMeeting Minutes
January
19, 2011
3:00 P.M.
Topic: Ordinance 2010-856
(regulation of location of transient merchants)
Location: City Council Chamber, 1st
floor, City Hall,
In Attendance: Council Members E. Denise Lee, John Crescimbeni,
Ray Holt, Bill Bishop, Reginald Brown, Don Redman, Glorious Johnson, Warren
Jones
Steve
Rohan, Margaret Sidman and Jason Teal - Office of General Counsel; Sean Costigan
- Council Auditors Office; Sherry Hall – Mayor’s Office; Juliette Williams -
Legislative Services Division; Jeff Clements and John J. Jackson – Council Research
Division.
Meeting convened: 3:10 p.m.
Council
Member Lee (Rules Committee Chair) called the meeting to order and explained the
purpose of the meeting as an opportunity to hear and discuss various viewpoints
on pending legislation 2010-856
ORD-MC Amend Chapt 250, Ord Code, Prohibiting Location of a Vendor’s Vending
Cart, Display Device, or Accessory Container within 1 mile of Propty Line of a
Permanent Business selling Same Types of Product. (Sidman) (Introduced by C/P
Webb; Co-Sponsored by C/M Joost, Holt & Fussell).
Council
Member Lee indicated that in the course of the meeting, initial views of the
Council Members present would he heard and then the public in attendance would
be welcomed to voice their respective views on the proposed legislation.
Council
Member Reginald Brown indicated that he wanted to familiarize himself with
Chapter 250 and had asked Sean Costigan, Council Auditor’s Office, to provide
him with information.
Council
Member Jones said that he was looking forward to hearing from the people who
had come to the public meeting to air their views.
Council
Member Crescimbeni asked Deputy General Counsel Steve Rohan if the only change
that the meeting was focusing on was changing 300 feet to one mile. Rohan replied that that was the only
substantive change that we were looking at.
Council Member Crescimbeni noted that he had had a role in crafting the
1993 legislation that created the 300 feet distance provision.
Council
Member Holt asked the Deputy General Counsel for a definition of “transient
vendor;” Council member Reginald Brown asked how “temporary” would be defined.
Council
Member Bishop asked the Deputy General Counsel if the Ordinance Code provided
for anyone to conduct business in the public right-of-way. Mr. Rohan replied that there is a mechanism
to allow it with proper permits.
Comments
from the public followed.
Attorney
Tim Atkinson of
Michael
Herzberg, representing Sleiman Enterprises, spoke in opposition to the proposed
legislation. He felt that the entire
Ordinance Code Section needed revamping, noting that references in the section
referred to a City department that no longer existed (Consumer Protection
Office). He felt that the proposed
legislation would invite legal challenges.
Mr. Herzberg noted that there were transient vendors on Sleiman
Enterprises properties and that those vendors paid taxes, had leases, had insurance
and paid premium (higher) rent.
Joe
Andrews, a concerned taxpayer of the County, spoke in opposition to the
proposed legislation, seeing it as an attack on free enterprise. Mr. Andrews said he saw the issue as a matter
of supply and demand. He preferred
market mechanisms over government edicts.
Mr. Andrews felt that the proposed ordinance amendment would stifle
entrepreneurship.
John
Nooney spoke in opposition to the proposed ordinance code amendment. He wanted
the County’s waterways exempted from the legislation, seeing the proposed
change as a threat to efforts to promote tourism in our area.
Michelle
Baldwin of Mayport spoke in opposition to the proposed legislation. Ms. Baldwin, a transient vendor, felt that
the issue at hand could very well be a matter of enforcing current laws on the
books. She underscored the fact that we
no longer have a Consumer Affairs Department.
She described the numerous permits that a vendor has to acquire, the
letters of permission from property owners allow transient vendors to set up
shop on their property and other regulations and requirements that transient
vendors follow.
Mark
Fechtel, representing Earth Works Nursery and
John
Shannon of
Twyla
Wilkins, formerly the owner of a store on
The
public comment period having concluded, the committee members discussed the
proposed legislation at length. There
was considerable sentiment that, whether the current proposal is adopted or
not, better enforcement of the existing ordinance is warranted. Assistant General Counsel Jason Teal informed
the committees that the transient merchant code was substantially rewritten
several years ago in conjunction with the Super Bowl. Chapter 250 references enforcement by the
Consumer Affairs Division, but that division was abolished in a reorganization
of the administrative departments subsequent to the Super Bowl and enforcement
responsibility is unclear. The Code
Enforcement Division monitors compliance of transient merchants with the Zoning
Code requirements but does not enforce the other provisions of the
chapter. Council Member Jones requested
that the committees hear from the Code Enforcement Division about the
sufficiency of their resources, personnel, and enforcement efforts. He is also curious to know if the transient
merchants that generate the most complaints are, in fact, operating legally or
if they are violating the ordinance.
The
need for a joint subcommittee of the LUZ, Rules and RCD Committees to conduct
further study was discussed. The
committee chairs and vice chair present appointed the following members to the
joint subcommittee: LUZ – Crescimbeni (joint subcommittee chair), Redman and
Holt; Rules – Bishop and R. Brown; RCD – Jones and Johnson (pending
confirmation by RCD Chair Clay Yarborough).
Attendees
in the audience were encouraged to sign the attendance sheet and provide
contact information so that they can be put on a notification list for future
joint subcommittee meetings.
Meeting adjourned: 4:56 p.m.
Jeff
Clements, Council Research Division, 630-1405
Posted
1.20.11
5:00
p.m.
Meeting
handouts – LSD
1.19.11
Meeting
recording – LSD
1.19.11