May 10, 2013 Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council Occasional Sales (Garage Sales) Ordinance Update On Wednesday, May 15, 2013 the Council will be briefed on proposed updates to the Occasional Sales (Garage Sales) Ordinance. Briefing materials are attached for your review. If you have any questions, or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
TO
SUBJECT
Joey Zapata Assistant City Manager
cc: Mary K. Suhm, City Manager Thomas P. Perkins, Jr., City Attorney Craig D. Kinton, City Auditor Rosa A. Rios, City Secretary Daniel Solis, Administrative Judge A.C. Gonzalez, First Assistant City Manager Ryan S. Evans, Assistant City Manager Jill A. Jordan, P.E., Assistant City Manager Forest E. Turner, Assistant City Manager Jeanne Chipperfield, Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Cooper, Assistant to the City Manager
“Dallas, The City That Works: Diverse, Vibrant and Progressive”
Occasional Sales (Garage Sales) Ordinance Update
Presented to the Dallas City Council May 15, 2013
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Purpose
Review proposed ordinance updates for occasional sales, commonly referred to as garage sales, recommended by Quality of Life committee
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Comparative Table
Requirements Fee for 1st permit Fee for 2nd permit No. of sales allowed per year No. of signs allowed on private property Allow signs on medians, utility poles? Allowed in uncovered driveways, porches? Allow sale of new items? Allow sale longer than 3 consecutive days? Current Ordinance $15 $15 2 1 No No No No New Ordinance $0 $25 2 5 No Yes No No
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Proposed Updates
No fee for first permitted sale
Increase fee for second permitted sale to $25 Revenue loss of $160K annually
Allow sales on approved surfaces (e.g., driveways) in addition to inside enclosed structures (e.g., garages) Allow up to 5 signs at remote locations advertising sale
Must be on private property
Signs are prohibited in the right-of-way (e.g., medians, utility poles)
Must have permission of property owners Must be removed within 24 hours following sale
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Permit Activity
Effective September 22, 2010, a $15 permit was required per garage sale Permit counts:
Percentage of Permits Obtained by Location FY 11-12
FY10-11: 12,430 permits FY11-12: 15,435 permits Estimate for FY12-13 is approximately 16,000 permits On-line at www.dallascityhall.com 27 Dallas Public Library Branches 2 Code Compliance locations:
32.5%
Permitting locations:
Online Code Facility
66.1% 1.4%
Library Branch
3112 Canton 7901 Goforth Road
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Permit Activity
FY11-12 October November December January February March # of Permits 1,839 1,308 354 682 585 1,334 Percentage 12% 8% 2% 4% 4% 9%
April
May June July August September
1,552
1,805 1,900 1,430 1,301 1,345
10%
12% 13% 9% 8% 9%
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Enforcement Activity
Service request counts for garage sales
Includes both calls reported by residents through 311 and cases identified proactively by Code
FY 08-09 2,010 FY 09-10 2,017 FY 10-11 2,273 FY 11-12 2,094
Description
Garage Sale Concern Service Requests
On average during this timeframe, garage sale service requests were 1.3% of the total service request volume for Code Compliance
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Enforcement Activity
2,094 garage sale service requests (SRs) created in FY 11-12
City Service Area Central Northeast Southeast Southwest Northwest North Central South Central
Count of Garage Sale SRs 196 245 266 566 727 74 20
Approximately 60% of the cases were identified proactively by Code Compliance staff The remainder were reported by residents through 311
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Enforcement Activity
In FY 11-12, 330 notices of violation and 32 criminal citations were issued for illegal garage sales
City Service Area Central Northeast Southeast Southwest Northwest North Central South Central
# of NOVs 49 6 52 208 9 4 2
# of Citations 4 12 10 2 2 2 0
Types of violations include: No permit, exceeded 2 sales per year, selling in open space, selling new items, etc.
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Next Steps
Council consideration of updated ordinance on June 12, 2013 voting agenda Update forms, application process and work instructions for staff Develop and implement communications plan
Flyer for community meetings, events City website Permitting locations