~ CITY OF PRINCE GEORGE Ill Development & Operations

STAFF REPORT TO COUNCIL

Date: June 27, 2008

To: Mayor and Council

From: Dan Milburn, Manager, Long Range Planning

TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL

Subject: City of Prince George Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw No. 8098

Attachments: City of Prince George Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw No. 8098

RECOMMENDATION:

1) Development & Operations recommends that Council:

a) receive this refort for information, and b) give 1st and 2n Readings to the attached City of Prince George Second-Hand Dealers

and Pawnbrokers Bylaw No. 8098.

PROPOSAL:

The Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw is intended to assist in the prevention of crime by establishing clear rules respecting how second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers operate their businesses. The bylaw includes regulations that require second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers to collect, record, and transmit to the R.C.M.P. a complete and accurate record of all goods purchased or taken in pawn. Furthermore, the goods purchased or taken in pawn must not be altered, sold, exchanged or otherwise disposed of for 30 days ( except they may be returned to the original seller or pawner at any time). This time period provides the R.C.M.P. sufficient time to review all the records. These regulations along with the other provisions of the draft bylaw will benefit the community by reducing the chance that legitimate second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers will be used by criminals to dispose of their stolen property.

DISCUSSION:

Community Charter and Business Regulation

The Provincial government repealed the Pawnbrokers Act, thus the Community Charter is now the Act that governs how local governments may regulate second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers. Pursuant to s. 8 (6) of the Community Charter, Council of the City of Prince George is empowered to "regulate" business. Regulate includes "authorize, control, inspect, limit and restrict, including establishing rules

2 respecting what must or must not be done, in relation to the persons, properties, activities, things or other matters being regulated." This power is limited in that Council may not adopt regulations that "impose requirements" or "prohibit business", unless expressly enabled by the Community Charter. Additionally, this power to regulate business may not be used to do anything that is specifically authorized under Part 26 [Planning and Land Use Management} or Part 27 [Heritage Conservation} of the Local Government Act. For example, the power to regulate land use must not be adopted as a business regulation; rather it must be adopted as a zoning regulation.

The Act provides for specific powers that local governments may use to regulate second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers. Council may, by bylaw:

• require second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers, after purchasing, taking in or receiving used or second-hand goods to notify the chief constable who has jurisdiction in the municipality within the time period established in the bylaw, and

• prohibit second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers from altering the form of, selling, exchanging or otherwise disposing of those goods during a time period specified in the bylaw.

History

A draft of the Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw was first considered by Council on November 7, 2005. At that same meeting Council directed staff to undertake extensive community consultation regarding the draft bylaw, which involved advertisements in the local newspaper and City web site, direct consultation with industry stakeholders, and a public open house held on January 30, 2006. The results of the consultation efforts were provided to Council for consideration on September 11,2007.

Generally, the industry participants understood the need for this bylaw; however, concerns were expressed about the implementation of the bylaw with respect to the requirement for electronic reporting, and the proposed 30 day holding period. In response to these concerns staff amended the draft bylaw to provide for approximately 6-months notice of the bylaw's implementation, and allow for second-hand property to be returned to the original seller or pawner despite the 30 day holding period.

The revised draft received first two readings, and was advanced to a Public Hearing on March 19th,

2007, which reconvened on April 2, 2007. Numerous presenters provided their comments to Council during this lengthy Public Hearing. Once the Public Hearing closed Council considered and defeated the Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw No. 7854.

Council then passed the following motion:

That Administration BE DIRECTED to prepare a report regarding:

1) Number of days to hold articles before selling them, noting that there may be a different number for differing categories;

2) Public display list idea and how to accomplish it; 3) Review the inclusion of holding large appliances for a time before selling; 4) Dealership issues on snowmobiles, ATVs and watercraft; 5) Differentiate between business of auctions and second-hand stores.

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3 As a result, staff prepared a report that included a revised draft bylaw that addressed the many issues and concerns noted by Council, as well as recent case law. This report, which also included a community consultation plan, was considered and approved by Council on December 3, 2007. The community consultation approved by Council is now complete, and the results are summarized in the following sections of this report for Council ' s consideration

Community Consultation Plan

City staff completed the following consultation intended to advise the community of the proposed Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw, and solicit the opinions of the citizens regarding the proposed Bylaw:

1) A concise description of the Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw was published in the local daily newspaper, along with a request for written comment. (February 22, 23, 29th and March 1st

)

2) A concise description of the Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw concept was published on the City' s web site, along with a request for written comment.

3) Stakeholders, including second hand dealers and pawnbrokers business owners, Downtown Prince George, Initiatives Prince George, and the PG Chamber of Commerce received a recent draft of the Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw the previously submitted staff report to Council, along with a request for written comment.

Community Consultation Results

One letter and three e-mails were submitted to City staff, all of which are attached to this report for Council's consideration. One letter raised a number of concerns with the draft bylaw, while the e-mails were supportive of its content. In addition, City staff fielded a small number of phone calls from individuals who were concerned about stolen property making its way into pawnshops and therefore supported the intent of the draft bylaw. Finally, 3 Auto Recyclers met with City staff on May 29th

, 2008 to discuss their concerns with the bylaw. Their concerns can be summarized as follows:

• All vehicles on-site are registered with ICBC which rigorously regulates this industry. • The holding of vehicles for 30 days is onerous considering the amount of product volume, and the

environmental regulations which require that vehicles be processed in a short time frame. • Concerns regarding maintaining new software were expressed • They also felt the proposed regulations can hurt legitimate businesses.

Amendments to Draft Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw

Following the prescribed public consultation, City staff consulted with the R.C.M.P. regarding the concerns raised by the auto recyclers and others. It was agreed that the definition of second-hand property should be amended by removing "motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts, or both, for the purpose of reselling parts or components" and a new definition for "motor vehicle" would be added. This is because the existing regulatory framework through ICBC was sufficient to meet the intended objectives of the draft bylaw. In addition, the definition of "picture identification" was modified to include British Columbia Identification (BCID). Finally, after further legal review, Schedule "B" was amended to ensure the section numbers for each offence are described with enough detail to be enforceable.

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CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, the Department recommends that Council approve the City of Prince George Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw No. 8098 to address increasing public interest, and enforcement challenges experienced by the Department and the RCMP. This new bylaw is intended to take advantage of recent advancements in technology and regulatory practices that are being adopted throughout the Province. As proposed the bylaw would take effect on March 1, 2009.

Respectfully submitted,

~ ~ Dan Milburn Manager, Long Range Planning

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From: Jack Bowie Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:49 PM To: Milburn, Dan Subject: pawnbroker bylaw

It' s a positive step to say the least that this mayor and city council are finally taking some action to set guidelines for the pawnbrokers and second hand shops which will better enhance our central business district. Now we have to persuade them that there urbanization plan to date would only work if our city was as progressive as Kamloops or Kelowna and our population growth grew in kind to support there grand scale ideas.

From: Brian Smith Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 11:25 AM To: Milburn, Dan Subject: Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bylaw

Sir,

I have just completed reading the proposed bylaw and I am 100% in favor of it. I do not know why motorized vehicles , namely A TV's, snowmobiles and the like are being excluded, but in my opinion, should be included as no legitimate transaction should be concerned of scrutiny by the authorities.

Regards, Brian Smith

From: Carol and Kerry Reimer Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 4:29 PM To: Milburn, Dan Subject: Second-Hand Dearler and Pawnbrokers Bylaw

I would like to share an experience my husband had with a pawn shop in PG. He had a cell phone stolen from his office at work and it ended up at a local pawn shop. The cell phone was not currently activiated at the time it was stolen. He called Telus about his phone with the serial # etc and they verified to him that his phone had been activated by a pawn shop in town. They gave us the name of the pawn shop which we passed on to the person investigating the office breakins. One of the janitorial staff was caught stealing from the offices and it became obvious where he had fenced his stolen property.

I am certainly in favour of any bylaw that would make it harder for criminals to fence stolen property in Prince George.

Carol Reimer Prince George

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