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An update to Winter Garden’s ordinance governing the activities of solicitors, agents and peddlers, which aims to address an increase in complaints about tactics solicitors use to elicit donations and sell products, passed its first reading Thursday 4-0, with Commissioner Iliana Ramos Jones absent.
If it passes its second reading, the Ordinance 25-22 update will expand the definition of “solicitor” to include people who ask for charitable donations and conduct commercial surveys. The revised ordinance will also prohibit sidewalk solicitations; require nonprofits to obtain solicitor permits, (fees can be waived); mandate that solicitor permit holders be at least 18; and establish a “no solicitation/some solicitation” list maintained by the Winter Garden Police Department and posted on the city's website. Residents who want only charitable solicitors to visit their properties, for instance, can indicate that preference on the list.
Political and religious canvassing would remain unaffected.
Presenting the ordinance update to the commission at Thursday’s biweekly meeting, Planning Director Kelly Carson said it was “intended to protect public safety, ensure accountability and give community members more control over solicitations at their homes or places of business.”
Commissioner Lisa Bennett who represents District 1, including the Downtown Winter Garden business district, noted that she had received “a lot of complaints in the north side of my district. People coming door-to-door, and kids answer the door, and it’s a hassle.”
Both Bennett and Mayor John Rees said they’d had complaints from business owners about kids being sent to pester people for donations while they dined outdoors.
“We had some business owners be concerned they were abusing that. I’ll put it that way,” Rees said.
Complaints about unknown, unpermitted solicitors knocking on doors, approaching people on public sidewalks and in local businesses while they shop or eat have recently escalated, Carson told VoxPopuli in a Friday email. She said the city “has received numerous solicitation complaints on a weekly bases [sic] with increasing frequency over the last several months.”
“Additionally, staff is particularly concerned about recent incidents involving groups of underage individuals being dropped off downtown and aggressively approaching pedestrians for donations,” Carson said in the email. “These actions are not only disruptive but may also hinder safe and accessible passage along public walkways. The ordinance is meant to respond to these issues and allow the community to decide how much, if any, solicitation they want to receive.”
A second reading of the ordinance is scheduled for July 24.
