6.7. SR 07-10-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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placard to that effect at the entrance to the premises. This Code provision is known as a modified Green River provision. One alternative to this that might expand somewhat the existing Ordinance and that may be available to the City, although its use has not been tested against the Minnesota state constitution, is an unmodified Green River ordinance. Such an ordinance is named after a 10th Circuit Court case involving the Town of Green River, Wisconsin and the Fuller Brush Company. The Town prohibited as a nuisance all uninvited door-to-door selling to individuals at their place of residence. The Court upheld the prohibition of the nuisance. Town of Green River v. Fuller Brush Co., 65 F.2d 112 (10th Cir. 1933). Unlike Elk River's modified Green River approach, this unmodified Green River approach does not depend upon a resident's individually prohibiting solicitation at his or her residence. This method has not been, and probably cannot be, expanded to include prohibition against solicitation of businesses. Likewise, it almost certainly cannot be used to prohibit other transient merchant sales methods. See Day v. Klein, 82 So.2d 831 (Miss. 1955). State statute authorizes the City to regulate in this area. Minn. Stat. §§ 329.06, 329.15. The statute does not place substantive restrictions on such regulation. Therefore, the parameters of the City's authority to regulate in this area are set primarily by the constitutional limitations on such regulation discussed above. In that regard, it should be noted that the Elk River Ordinance is already fairly broad, in that it allows the City, in addition to the specific prohibitions and licensing requirements set forth in the ordinance, to place additional specific restrictions on any license issued to a transient merchant. Moreover, state statute, as noted above, allows the City to prohibit certain classes of "transient merchant events." Minn. Stat. § 329.15. Use of this authority, combined with the ordinance's allowance for specific restrictions to be placed on individual licenses, is one possible method for exercising expanded authority, under the existing regulatory scheme, over activities that are of concern to the City. Such an approach using the existing ordinance probably presents less risk to the City of exceeding the constitutional limitations than the risk that would inhere in enacting a new, more restrictive ordinance. A separate question and answer fact sheet is provided for use of the City licensing staff in addressing questions and concerns raised by transient merchants. GP:711764 vl 4