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City considers garage sale ordinance By Daniel K. Lai An ordinance that would limit the number of garage sales a Taylor resident can hold will be considered by the city council Tuesday night. “The city has received numerous complaints from individuals that some people are holding garage sales so consistently, almost like they are operating a business out of their homes,” City Manager Frank Salvato said. Salvato said if passed by the council, the ordinance would not restrict garage sales, merely limit the number of them. “We're not saying don't have a garage sale. In fact, garage sales and recycling are good, but we want to limit it to so many times a year,” he said. “It's the council's decision though.” According to the ordinance under consideration, “garage sales, lawn sales, attic sales, rummage sales, flea market sales or any similar casual sale of tangible personal property, not associated with a commercial business properly licensed to do business in the city” would be included in the restrictions. “It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct a garage sale in the city without first filing with the city ... and obtaining from the city a license to do so,” the ordinance states. “A garage sale license shall be issued to any one person only two times within a 12-month period and no such license shall be issued for more than four consecutive calendar days.” Salvato said garage sales that occur consistently compete with downtown businesses that sell antiques. “There's some people that open their garage up every week,” he said. “They are running a business but aren't having to pay all the things a business has to pay to operate.” However, Taylor resident Jose Orta said he thinks the proposed ordinance is excessive. “The ordinance as written is excessive, detrimental to the community and overly bureaucratic,” he said in a letter to the council. “I totally refute the idea that garage sales need to be restricted.” Orta said if the ordinance passes, at the very least council members should allow for four garage sales per household per year. “Many people clean out their closets quarterly. What happens when someone has already put on their two garage sales and has to move away from town? They will no longer be able to put on a ‘legal' garage sale,” he said. “Garage sales are part of the fabric of this community. Many working class people utilize garage sales to budget their income. Saturday mornings are filled with eager buyers, garage sale enthusiasts and people looking for hard to find items that are no longer available in stores. “Taylor will not be seen as a garage-sale friendly small-town community; it will take on the aura of the gated community and the overly patronizing neighborhood association that restricts anything and everything that it dislikes.” Orta said there are still too many questions left unanswered that council members should clarify before voting on the ordinance. “It is apparent that this ordinance was written to restrict the number of garage sales in about four locations in town. It is illogical to write an ordinance that will penalize the rest of the community for what is occurring in such a small location,” he said. “What it does need to do is restrict the number of garage sales in the same location.”
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