SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Ordinance Regulating Mobile Vendors Toughened

The City Council has toughened its vending ordinance by requiring mobile merchants to move their vehicles every half hour, pick up trash left behind by customers and sell nothing on Sundays.

The ordinance also restricts hours during which vendors can operate and provides progressively harsher penalties to those who violate it repeatedly.

The council on Tuesday voted 4 to 0 to approve the changes. Councilman Jeff Vasquez was absent.

The vendor ordinance was revised in response to complaints about produce trucks and other peddlers in two large condominium complexes, Capistrano Villas and Casa Capistrano.

Despite taking a stronger position on regulating vendors, the council softened the city’s stance in one minor way by asking the city staff to revise the part of the city code that forbids ice cream trucks from playing music over loudspeakers. Council members said the tunes--at a reasonable volume--should be allowed as a traditional slice of community life.

The council will revisit that matter in a few weeks.

Joann de Guevara had complained to the council that ice cream truck music is sometimes loud enough on her Capistrano Villas street to drown out the television.

Under the new vending ordinance, street vending hours of operation are limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Vendors are required to move at least 100 feet every 30 minutes.

A first-time offender receives a notice of violation. A second offense brings a 30-day suspension of a city vending permit, and a third violation can result in a one-year vending permit suspension.

City Atty. Richard K. Denhalter told the council that the amended ordinance was crafted to withstand potential legal challenge.