Shopping cart laws move forward

The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary approval to shopping cart ordinances designed to help prevent their theft and abandonment on streets, in the woods and in ravines.

The council can make the new laws official with a vote at its Sept. 17 meeting. The laws would go in effect Jan. 1. An estimated 300 shopping carts are stolen from Shelton stores each year.

No one spoke Tuesday at the public hearing on the proposal.

The proposed requirements would not apply to any business that has 15 or fewer shopping carts or contain less than 3,000 square feet of retail space.

The prop...