6.7. SR 07-10-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: DATE: RE: Sandy Peine City Clerk City of Elk River Mark S. Mathison Assistant City Attorney July 6, 2000 Potential for Expansion of Regulation Under Elk River Transient Merchant Ordinance FACTS Members of the City Council have requested a review of Elk River's Transient Merchant Ordinance, Section 722 of the City Code, and an analysis of the City's authority to expand its current regulation of transient merchants. ISSUE Whether the Transient Merchant Ordinance adopted by the City of Elk River is capable of expansion under a constitutional commerce clause analysis and the laws of the State of Minnesota ? SUMMARY CONCLUSION The City's existing Ordinance regulates transient merchants and others doing business temporarily within the City, and requires that all such persons be licensed by the City. In addition to its general restrictions, the Ordinance allows the City a broad range of flexibility to place specific conditions on individual licenses. State statute enables, but does not circumscribe, the City's authority to regulate in this arena. Accordingly, the parameters of the City's authority to regulate, including its authority to place restrictions on individual licenses, are set primarily by the United States Constitution under a commerce clause analysis. In addition to its other restrictions, the Ordinance contains what is known as a modified "Green River" provision, allowing individual residents of the City to prohibit solicitation upon premises they occupy. One alternative to this provision that may be available to the City for the purpose of controlling door-to-door solicitation is to enact an unmodified Green River provision, which would prohibit all door-to-door solicitation as a public nuisance. The use of such a provision has been upheld in some jurisdictions and struck down in others on the basis of individual states' constitutional analyses. Its use has not been explicitly tested in Minnesota. DISCUSSION