DEPARTMENT: Development Services Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Roderick Sanchez
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Updated agreement between the City of San Antonio and HEB Grocery Company, LP (“HEB”) to sell garage sale permits at HEB Business Centers.
SUMMARY:
This ordinance authorizes the City to update the current agreement between the City of San Antonio and HEB Stores to sell garage sale permits at HEB Business Centers. The updated agreement includes revisions to the permit issuance procedures that will provide improved efficiencies, better code enforcement of garage sale permits and cost savings to the City and HEB.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City’s garage sale permit requirements (City Code Chapter 16, Article XII) were established in 1988 in order to preserve, enhance and perpetuate the economic value and the residential character of the city's neighborhoods. The garage sales regulations are intended to protect residential areas from permanent encroachment of commercial uses, protect the aesthetic qualities of neighborhoods and to ensure the harmonious and orderly operation of garage sales in residential areas. The requirements include limits on the number of permitted garage sales per year per address (4), limits on the duration and hours of operation, signage requirements, permit fees and penalties for violations. This proposed ordinance does not include any changes to the garage sale requirements.
In 2004, as a public convenience to citizens, the City partnered with HEB to sell permits at their approximately 37 locations. This agreement has not been updated since it was created in 2004 and remains in effect today. Since 2009, the City has issued 297,000 garage sale permits. The current partnership with HEB has proven vital as 89% of all garage sale permits issued since 2009 were purchased at HEB Business Centers. The remaining 11% were sold through the City’s Development and Business Service Center or through the now obsolete Community Link Centers.
ISSUE:
The 2004 agreement between the City and HEB to sell garage sale permits at their stores details a very paper-driven and outdated process. Currently, HEB orders and purchases paper-printed permits on an as-needed basis from the Development Services Department. The permits are printed in batches of approximately 5,000 at either the City Print Shop or at an external vendor. The batches are then couriered to HEB business offices for distribution to the various stores. Copies of the paper permits are then returned at a later date in batches to the Development Services Department for eventual manual entry into our Code Enforcement system. This is a very labor intensive process which restricts our ability to properly monitor and enforce neighborhoods and properties that may be obtaining too many garage sales permits per year.
This proposed ordinance authorizes an updated agreement between the City and HEB which will allow HEB to print the permits directly from their Point of Sale system (Business Center) at each store. Doing so would save the City printing costs, allow for real time sales for HEB, reduce on hand stock of permits for HEB and the City, allow for electronic payments from HEB to the City and allow for the creation of electronic sales reports. The electronic sales reports will be sent to the Development Services Department on a weekly basis which will be used to monitor and track properties that obtain too many garage sales thereby improving our enforcement effectiveness.
ALTERNATIVES:
The alternative would be to maintain the current agreement and process where the Development Services Department continues to print paper copies of permits, transport them to the HEB main office and HEB staff distribute to roughly 37 stores.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department anticipates savings of approximately $3,000 per year resulting from the elimination of printing costs of approximately 40,000 permits.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of this new business process as it benefits both the City of San Antonio and our business partner, HEB.