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Lemoore City studies new rules for peddlers and solicitors, council leans to 9 a.m. start and broader youth exemption
Summary
City staff presented a draft update to Lemoore Municipal Code on peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants that would require registration, fingerprinting and a fee for commercial solicitors; council discussed limiting restrictions to commercial activity, setting hours (council favored 9 a.m. starts), and changing youth exemptions to under-18, with public hearing and revisions to follow.
City staff and the city attorney on Tuesday presented a draft ordinance to update Lemoore Municipal Code sections governing peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants, outlining new definitions, a registration process and time, place and manner limits.
The police chief explained the application process would include fingerprinting and issuance of an ID card. The draft attaches a registration fee (example shown $39.97) and establishes hours during which solicitation would be allowed; staff noted the draft on the screen showed “between the hours of sunset and 8AM” in error and that the intent is daytime hours.
The city attorney warned about First Amendment constraints and recommended narrowing any restriction to commercial solicitations only, saying a broader restriction risks being treated as a free-speech regulation. "By changing it to commercial purpose, it alleviates some of that and protects the city a little bit," the attorney said.
Council and members of the public debated specific hours and age exemptions. Several council members and residents expressed concern that an early cutoff (for example, 6 p.m.) could be vulnerable to legal challenge; the attorney referenced case law that found a 6 p.m. restriction was problematic. Council members discussed compromise windows such as 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and indicated support for exempting minors under 18 rather than under 16.
Residents and staff raised enforcement and equity issues, noting elderly and non–English-speaking residents can be targeted by deceptive solicitors. A member of the public who identified himself as David Lambert asked whether local disturbing-the-peace ordinances (which sometimes reference a 10 p.m. cutoff) correlate to solicitation rules; staff said the topics are related but that there is no single statewide time standard for solicitation.
Council directed staff to refine the draft, publish forms and materials on the city website, and return the ordinance for public hearing and formal action. No final ordinance was adopted at the meeting.
