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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1987/02/03 Item 9 COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 9 Meeting Date 1/29/87 /307 ITEM TITLE: Ordinance 2/-7 ) Amending Sections 5.02.050 and 5.02.180 of the Chula Vista Municipal Code Relating to Granting and Revoking Business Licenses SECOND READING AND ADOPT'®N SUBMITTED BY: Assistant City Attorney Ft (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X ) Recent procedures to revoke a business license have revealed an inappropriate procedure requiring the Director of Finance to issue business licenses notwithstanding being informed of violations of the Building Code or the Zoning Ordinance. In addition, the ordinance is silent as to the period of disqualification during which a license holder whose license is revoked shall be ineligible to apply for and have a new license granted. The proposed amendments will prohibit issuance of a license where the issuing officer knows that applicable codes and regulations have not been satisfied, and will impose a general one year period of disqualification subject to certain objectively verifiable exceptions. tCOMMENDATION: Adopt the ordinance and place it on its first reading. BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: N/A DISCUSSION: During the license revocation hearing with regard to the Health Club license at 15 Fourth Avenue, members of the Council questioned the appropriateness of the existing provision of Section 5.02.050 which required the Finance Officer to issue a license to operate a business notwithstanding being informed by the Department of Building and Housing Inspection and the Planning Department that code and regulation violations exist. Although the applicant would be entitled to a business license, and the City would be entitled to the license fee (which was made non-refundable) such a procedure would generally be useless, except to generate revenue for the City. Additionally, the provision appears to be directly contradictory to the immediately next following section of the Code, Section 5.02.060, which prohibits the issuance of a license "unless a full compliance is had with all the laws of the City. . .". Accordingly, the proposed amendment deletes the requirement that the license be issued under such circumstances, replaces it with a provision prohibiting its issuance under such circumstances, and expands the grounds for nonallowance of the license to violation of any applicable code or regulation as a result of a review of the application by any appropriate department in the opinion of the Finance Director. Page 2, Item 9 Meeting Date -11-2-97/-8-7-- ‘, /31 z A review of the general provisions relating to business licenses in Chapters 5.02 and 5.04 reveal a lack of any provision relating to a period of disqualification following a revocation of a business license. Such a provision appears to be desirable. The proposed amendment to Section 5.02.180 deletes a probably unconstitutional provision allowing revocation of a license because the holder is an "unfit person" , and replaces it with a provision generally disqualifying an applicant from obtaining a new license for a period of one year following revocation of a business license, subject to a minimum period of ninety (90) days and an objectively verifiable standard in the determination of the Finance Director that the reasons for the revocation had been corrected or abated. Other changes should be made to the licensing ordinance provisions, but should be done in the context of a comprehensive overall review of the licensing procedures and the recent changes in the law. This office will be returning to the Council with a proposed substantial revision of the licensing ordinances in the near future. FISCAL IMPACT: Not known at this time, but probably negligible to none. 2444a by the City Council of b the y y Council of Chub Vista, Caii.ornia Chula Vista, California Dated Dated 3 -47 . . . .................. .....