"Abandoned, lost, or stolen shopping cart" means a shopping cart which is either: (1) removed from the premises of a retail establishment by any person without the written permission or consent of the owner of the shopping cart or retailer otherwise entitled to possession of such cart; or (2) left unattended, discarded, or abandoned upon any public or private property other than the premises of the retail establishment from which the shopping cart was removed shall be presumed lost, stolen, or abandoned, even if in the possession of any person, unless such person in possession thereof either: (a) is the owner, or any employee or authorized agent of the owner, entitled to possession of said shopping cart, (b) is an officer, employee, or agent of a cart retrieval service hired by the owner to retrieve such shopping carts, (c) is an enforcement officer retrieving, storing, or disposing of said cart pursuant to provisions of this chapter, or (d) has written permission or consent to be in possession of said shopping cart from the owner entitled to possession of said shopping cart.

"Agent" means the person or persons designated by the shopping cart control plan who the owner of the shopping cart authorizes as the person(s) to perform or provide retrieval services on behalf of the owner. The agent may be the owner if so designated in the city approved shopping cart control plan.

"City" means the city of Wasco, California.

"Director" means the public works director of the city.

"Enforcement personnel" means any police officer or code enforcement officer employed by the city.

"Highway" means a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

"Laundry cart" means a basket which is mounted on wheels and used in a coin-operated laundry or dry-cleaning retail establishment by a customer or an attendant for the purpose of transporting fabrics and the supplies necessary to process them.

"Owner" means any person or entity who, in connection with the conduct of a business, owns, leases, possesses or makes a shopping cart available to customers or the public. For the purposes of this chapter, owner shall also include the owner’s agent.

"Parking area" means a parking lot or other property provided by a retail establishment for the use of customers of said retail establishment for parking of customer vehicles. The parking area of a retail establishment located in a multi-store complex or shopping center shall include the entire parking area used by the multi-store complex or shopping center.

"Premises" means the entire area owned, occupied, and/or utilized by an owner which provides shopping carts for use by customers or other persons, including any parking lot or other property provided by or on behalf of the owner for customer parking use.

"Retail establishment" means any business located in the city which offers or provides shopping carts for the use of the customers of such business regardless of whether such business is advertised or operated as a retail or wholesale business, and regardless of whether such business is open to the general public, or is a private club or business, or is a membership store.

"Shopping cart" or "cart" means a basket which is mounted on wheels or a similar device generally used in a retail establishment by a customer for the purpose of transporting goods of any kind.

"Sidewalk" means that portion of a highway, other than the roadway, set apart by curbs, barriers, markings or other delineation for pedestrian travel.

"Street" means a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Street includes highway. (Ord. 694 §1, 2018).