The City Council hereby finds, determines and declares that:
(a) Solicitations made in an aggressive manner are unsafe and disruptive to persons in the City of Canyon Lake and are a threat to public health, safety, and general welfare. Aggressive solicitations typically include approaching or following pedestrians, the use of abusive language, unwanted physical contact, or the intentional blocking of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
(b) An increase in aggressive solicitation throughout the city has become extremely disturbing and disruptive to residents and businesses, and has contributed not only to the loss of access to and enjoyment of public places, but also to an enhanced sense of fear, intimidation and disorder.
(c) Aggressive solicitation from people in places where they are a "captive audience" in which it is impossible or difficult for them to exercise their own right to decline to listen to or to avoid solicitation from others, is problematic, detracts from the rights of persons in the city to quietly enjoy public facilities and presents a risk to the health, safety and welfare of the public.
(d) The presence of individuals who solicit money from persons at or near banks or automated teller machines is especially threatening and dangerous. Such activity often carries with it an implicit threat to both person and property. Restricting solicitation in such places will provide a balance between the rights of solicitors and the rights of persons who wish to decline or avoid such solicitations, and will help avoid or diminish the threat of violence in such unwarranted and unavoidable confrontations.
(e) Aggressive solicitation on roadway median strips, at traffic intersections, in public parking lots and in the public roadway and lingering and loitering on a median are unsafe and hazardous for solicitors, drivers, pedestrians, and the general public. Aggressive soliciting on roadway median strips, at traffic intersections, in public parking lots and in the public roadway increases the risk of drivers becoming distracted from their primary duty to watch traffic, which may result in automobile accidents, congestion and blockage of streets, and delay and obstruction of the free flow of travel, all of which constitute substantial traffic safety problems.
(f) The Council's intent in enacting this chapter is not to interfere with the exercise of First Amendment rights of those engaged in solicitation on roadway median strips, at traffic intersections, in public parking lots and in the public roadway and lingering and loitering on the medians, but only to minimize the safety hazards of those in such areas as well as the drivers and passengers in vehicles near these areas and in a manner to minimize those safety hazards.
(g) The practice of aggressive solicitation near driveways accessing shopping centers, retail, and business establishments is unsafe and hazardous for solicitors, drivers, pedestrians and the general public. The location of the solicitor near the driveway compromises the solicitor's safety, impedes visibility, and impairs a driver's ability to safely enter and exit. Drivers also become distracted from their duty to watch traffic, which may result in automobile accidents, congestion and blockage of streets, and delay and obstruction of the free flow of travel, all of which constitute substantial traffic safety problems.
(h) The restrictions of this Chapter are content neutral and are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, but still provide alternative avenues of communication.
(i) The reasonable time, place, manner restrictions in this Chapter avoid the negative effects of aggressive solicitation and solicitation in unsafe places and will not unreasonably restrict free speech of people engaged in solicitation.
(Ord. 211, passed 10-6-2021)