Lancaster May Get Tough With Vendors Who Converge Near Campuses : Regulations: School officials’ complaints spur the City Council to review policies governing those selling from sidewalks.

Prompted by complaints from school officials, the city of Lancaster is investigating whether to toughen policies governing street vendors.

Last week, the City Council directed its legal office to review ordinances dealing with street peddlers, particularly with regard to the vendors’ proximity to public schools. The council’s request came after Lancaster School District officials, labeling the presence of campus-close vendors a “nuisance,” asked the city to strengthen present regulations.

“We support the vendors’ right to operate a business,” Supt. David Alvarez said in a letter to the city dated Dec. 8. “However, some restrictions are needed to ensure safe and orderly operation of our schools.”

Alvarez said the sidewalk sales of ice cream, candy and other products have caused students to cut class to buy an item and have also put would-be purchasers at risk of being hurt in the heavy traffic surrounding the campus immediately before and after school. Requests that they park their vehicles farther away have gone unheeded by vendors, the schools chief said.

“There are a lot of them there right after school, so it can be a distraction for the kids as well as an issue of traffic safety,” trustee Greg Tepe said.

In his letter, Alvarez recommended that those who hawk their goods on city streets be kept 1,000 feet from campus throughout the school day and for half an hour on either end. Such a change in city policy would affect the Lancaster School District’s 14 elementary and junior high campuses as well as eight schools in the Eastside and Antelope Valley Union High school districts.

City spokeswoman Nancy Walker said street vending is regulated by city and zoning ordinances.

All vendors must have a business license but cannot park and sell in residential or commercial neighborhoods. They are restricted to public-access property or privately held areas with consent of the owner. Any business owner can ask a vendor to move if he or she is stationed directly outside the business.

No other regulations exist specifically for street vendors beyond that, except for a general prohibition on door-to-door solicitation between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m., Walker said.

At its meeting last Monday, the council asked the city attorney’s office to draft recommendations for strengthening rules directly related to street vending, with special attention paid to the needs of schools. The recommendations will probably be presented at the council’s Jan. 18 meeting.

Any change in municipal ordinance will also require a public hearing. But at this point, Walker said, “as far as I know, we haven’t heard from any vendors on this subject.”

The city boasts 36 licensed street vendors, who mostly sell ice cream or drive catering trucks, she said.

The moves to toughen restrictions on sidewalk peddling come at a time when the practice is undergoing scrutiny--both negative and positive--in other Los Angeles County cities.

Earlier this year, Burbank officials outlawed street vending from pushcarts and also ordered a plan drafted to allow authorities to seize the equipment of those who violate the ban.

And in Los Angeles, the City Council recently capped a long-running debate by approving a pilot program to license and regulate street vendors in certain commercial zones.