[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Upper Uwchlan 7-16-2007 by Ord. No. 07-07.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This chapter superseded former
Ch. 134, Peddling and Soliciting, adopted 1-17-2006 by Ord. No. 06-01.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation
to sell or offer to sell by personal solicitation or by printed or
written cards, circulars or any other artifices whatsoever, any good,
wares, merchandise, literary products, magazines, periodicals, fruit,
fish, vegetables, produce, oysters, milk or any other article of trade
whatsoever from house to house or in the public streets or alleys
within the limits of Upper Uwchlan Township, or to circulate, distribute,
and/or indiscriminately deliver from house to house advertising flyers
or pamphlets (except in the course of ordinary mail) without first
having procured a permit or license from the Police Department of
Upper Uwchlan Township, for such privileges; and it shall further
be unlawful for any person to go upon any property within Upper Uwchlan
Township to solicit funds from the Township residents for any religious,
charitable, or nonprofit cause by knocking upon doors or by ringing
door bells so as to cause or attempt to cause residents of the property
to open their door, unless the person doing the solicitation has first
registered with the Police Department of Upper Uwchlan Township and
has received an identification card from the Police Department of
Upper Uwchlan Township. Nothing in this section shall preclude the
distribution of political or religious flyers, pamphlets or tracts
at no cost, or require that individuals merely engaging in religious
or political speech be required to register under this chapter.
B.
For the protection of the public against fraud and
imposition, all persons making sales or soliciting orders of goods,
wares or merchandise as set forth heretofore or soliciting funds for
any religious, charitable or nonprofit cause shall first provide a
completed application to the Police Department of Upper Uwchlan Township
in order to obtain permission and an identification card for these
purposes.
C.
After examination of the applicant and his/her application
and, where deemed necessary, after verification of the references
or other means, the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department may issue
to the applicant the required certification.
Every applicant for a license under this chapter
shall pay the license fees as set from time to time by resolution
of the Board of Supervisors. Person(s) or organizations may be exempt
from fees, however, such person(s) or organizations shall cause notice
to be given to the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department that such
person(s) shall be soliciting within Upper Uwchlan Township. The following
are exempt from any licensing fees:
A.
Person(s) soliciting contributions on behalf of a
nonprofit organization, who, while soliciting, are possessors of a
card or otherwise written evidence of their appointment or authority
to solicit for said organization or corporation.
B.
Person(s) who are engaged in making surveys for collecting
information for the federal, state, county or Upper Uwchlan Township
government or agency appointed by these governments to conduct this
activity. All those conducting this activity shall have in their possession
and displayed an identification card at all times when in the process
of actually conducting this activity.
C.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be held to
prohibit any sale permitted by statute or by order of any court, or
to prevent any person conducting a bona fide auction sale pursuant
to law.
D.
This chapter shall not apply to boys or girls under
the age of 18 years who take orders for and deliver newspapers, greeting
cards, candy and the like, or who represent the Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts or similar organizations and take orders for and deliver cookies
or the like.
E.
This chapter shall not apply to any person(s) who
has complied with the provisions of the Solicitation of Funds for
Charitable Purposes Act, 10 P.S. § 162.1 at seq., as hereafter
amended, supplemented, modified or reenacted by the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania and who is soliciting funds on behalf of a purely
public charity, as the term is defined in the statutes of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
F.
Any person or individual that is merely proselytizing
for either religious or political purposes, distributing religious
or political handbills at no cost, or exercising the right to anonymous
religious or political speech without soliciting any funds and without
selling any goods or soliciting for contributions is expressly exempt
from fees and registration.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Persons regulated by this chapter shall carry
and display their identification cards at all times while soliciting
within Upper Uwchlan Township and shall show their identification
cards to residents or police when requested in order to identify themselves
prior to any actual solicitation of funds. The person to whom such
card was issued shall immediately report any loss of such identification
card to the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department.
All solicitations carried on by an individual
in the case of residential door-to-door or house-to-house calling
are restricted to the hours between 9:00 a.m. to dusk on any day of
the week, and those person(s) shall not engage in any business activity,
except by prior appointment, at any time before 9:00 a.m. or after
dusk on any day of the week.
A.
The Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department is hereby
authorized to deny, suspend or revoke any license issued under this
chapter when it deems such denial, suspension or revocation to be
beneficial to the public health, safety or morals, or for violation
of any provision of this chapter, or for giving false information
upon the application for a license hereunder. The applicant shall
make appeals from any suspension, revocation or denial of a license
in writing to the Township Manager at any time within 10 days after
suspension, revocation or denial. The Township Manager will review
the matter within 30 days and render a decision as to the disapproval/approval
of the license.
B.
Authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter
shall be granted to the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department,
the Office of the Township Manager, the Office of Township Codes Administration
and/or any agent designated by the Upper Uwchlan Township Board of
Supervisors.
Solicitation of funds for charitable, religious
or nonprofit causes shall be permitted at any business establishment
and upon any business properties, such as shopping center parking
lots, during normal business hours. Those solicitors shall seek permission
by the property owners to be there and shall also register at the
Police Department and carry identification cards. Organizations soliciting
for religious purposes are exempt from providing the Police Department
with the names of the individuals who will be engaged in soliciting
for that religious group.
No licensee or any person in his or her behalf
shall shout, cry out, blow a horn, ring a bell or use any sound or
amplifying device upon any of the streets, alleys, parks, or other
public places in Upper Uwchlan Township or upon private premises where
sound of sufficient volume is emitted or produced there from to be
capable of being plainly heard upon the streets, avenues, alleys,
parks or other public places for the purpose of attracting attention
to any goods, wares or merchandise which such licensee proposes to
sell. In addition to this chapter, all licensees shall comply with
all additional Upper Uwchlan Township noise ordinances as well.
No licensee shall have any exclusive right to
any location in the public streets nor shall any be permitted a stationary
location thereon nor shall any be permitted to operate in a congested
area where such operation might impede or inconvenience the public
use of such streets or sidewalks.
Every person, whether principal or agent, entering
into or desiring to conduct a transient retail business in the Township
for the sale of the goods, wares or merchandise and who hires, leases
or occupies a room, apartment, store, shop, building or other place
or structure for the exhibition and sale of such goods, wares or merchandise
shall, before commencing such business, take out a license to do so
from the Chief of Police. The fee for such license shall be as set
from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, and shall
be paid monthly in advance to Upper Uwchlan Township.
For the purpose of interpreting this chapter,
words used herein shall have the following definitions:
The conducting of retail sales of goods, wares or merchandise
on the streets or in the homes of the Township, including solicitations
and taking of orders, whether verbal or written. The phrase includes
work commonly done by peddlers, hawkers, auctioneers, hucksters or
other door-to-door salesmen. It does not include sales of milk or
milk products or bakery products.
Includes any person, corporation, partnership, association
or any agent thereof who conducts a business in the Township, either
from door to door or in any other manner where the vendor does not
have either a residence or a business office within the geographic
limits of Upper Uwchlan Township.
A.
No vendor shall deposit any refuse or waste on the
streets or alleys or any private or public property in the Township,
nor may he or she be parked or stopped for a longer time than is reasonably
necessary to conduct his or her business.
B.
The approved vendor shall not permit the throwing
or discarding of any paper, debris, or other such items upon the roadways,
highways or other places within the Township. The vendor shall dispose
of all trash in approved containers.
C.
All mobile vehicles for the purposes of vending shall
have suitable trash containers upon them and marked for public use.
A.
Any resident of Upper Uwchlan Township may register
with the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department by signing a registration
application indicating that such owner or resident of such home does
not wish to be solicited. Upper Uwchlan Township shall place the address
of such property upon a registration list for the same and provide
that individual with a "No Solicitation" sticker, which that party
may display on the upper left-hand side of his or her front door.
B.
Any person seeking a licensing permit under the provisions
of this chapter shall, in signing the application to obtain the same,
agree that he or she will not solicit homes whose owners or residents
have signed a registration list which indicates that such owner or
resident of such home does not wish to be solicited. Such a list shall
be held by the Police Department, and a copy thereof shall be given
to each person obtaining a license and identification card under the
provisions of this chapter. In the event that such person soliciting
within the boundaries of the Township shall fail to recognize the
wishes of the homeowner or the resident of such home expressed in
the notice, then any such attempt to solicit such home shall result
in a revocation of the solicitor's license and identification card.
A.
The licensee shall not permit any other person to
have possession of the license permit and identification cards. The
licensee shall immediately notify the Police Department in writing
upon learning the loss of the license or identification cards. The
licensee shall not permit the license or the identification card to
be altered or defaced.
B.
No licensee or their representatives shall enter,
or attempt to enter any dwelling, house, business, or industry without
invitation or permission of the occupant and shall immediately leave
any premise upon request.
C.
The licensee and their representatives are prohibited
from using the license as an endorsement by Upper Uwchlan Township
for any goods or services provided by the licensee.
D.
All vehicles used by the vendor shall have displayed
a copy of the license permit in clear view as not to violate any motor
vehicles laws of Pennsylvania. All vehicles used in conjunction with
the vending shall have the vehicle's information listed on the permit
displayed.
E.
The licensed vendor shall not conduct business in
any geographical location within the Township that is deemed to present
an unsafe condition to the public.
F.
Licensed vendors shall immediately surrender their
license permit upon revocation and notification of revocation of said
license.
G.
The permit shall only be valid for one year from the
date of issue.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person who violates or permits a violation
of this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought
before a Magisterial District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of
Criminal Procedure, be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable
by a fine of not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default
of payment thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion thereof that
such violation continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute
a separate offense, and each section of this chapter that is violated
shall also constitute a separate offense.
