Inglewood Municipal Code Art. 3 Permits

There is hereby created and established a committee, consisting of the Administrative Officer, Public Works Director, Emergency Services Manager, Economic and Community Development Director, the Police Chief and the Fire Chief, to be known as the "Permits and Licenses Committee." The City Clerk shall be secretary of the Committee, and designated Finance Department staff will serve as support staff.

(Ord. 2210 1-21-75; Ord. 2348 7-31-79; Ord. 96-02 2-6-96; Ord. 97-19 9-2-97; Ord. 07-08 4-25-07; Ord. 08-05 4-22-08; Ord. 20-16 9-22-20)

It is the purpose and intent of this Article to create an Administrative Committee which shall have as its function to consider and act on permit applications assigned to it either by ordinance or by action of the City Council and thereby avoid encumbering the Council's agenda with such administrative type matters.

The Chairperson of the Committee shall be the Administrative Officer, or in his or her absence such person as he or she may delegate to serve. An acting department head or assistant to the department head may act in the place of any member who is unable to attend.

Four members shall constitute a quorum. A lesser number may adjourn from time to time.

(Ord. 96-02 2-6-96; Ord. 97-19 9-2-97)

The meetings of the Committee shall be open to the public and shall be held on a regular basis, provided that special meetings may be called as required. The procedure governing the time, place and organization of the Committee shall be determined by the Committee. The Committee's secretary shall keep a record of all proceedings of the Committee and prepare minutes of all meetings.

Applications shall be filed with the Finance Director on forms provided by him or her, the original of which shall be duly acknowledged in the form of an affidavit and shall include the following information:

(1) The legal name, address and phone number of the person, partnership or corporation submitting the application.

(2) The business name, address and phone number under which the business will be conducted, if applicable.

(3) The residence address and phone number of the person, partners or principal directors of the corporation making application.

(4) The exact nature of the activity for which the permit is requested.

(5) The time period for which the permit is requested, if applicable.

(6) Such other information as required by the issuing body.

(Ord. 03-19 10-14-03; Ord. 07-08 4-25-07)

The Finance Director shall notify the applicant in writing of the time and place of the hearing before the officer or body charged with the responsibility of acting upon the particular business or activity, giving such notice at least five days prior thereto unless the applicant waives such notice in writing.

The issuing body or officer may give such further notice to persons affected as deemed necessary to insure a fair hearing.

(Ord. 03-19 10-14-03; Ord. 07-08 4-25-07)

The officer or body required to act upon any application pursuant to this Chapter shall deny the application for any permit for any of the following reasons:

(1) The applicant or his or her employee, agent, partner, director, officer, shareholder or manager has not complied with this or any other regulations of the City pertaining to his or her application.

(2) The activity for which a permit is sought is detrimental to the public health, morals, safety or general welfare: or conflicts with any City, State, or Federal Law.

(3) The applicant or his or her employee, agent, partner, director, officer, shareholder or manager has knowingly made any false, misleading or fraudulent statement of a material fact in the application. A material fact is one which if disclosed could have resulted in the denial of the permit.

(4) The required fee has not been paid, or the owner, owner's spouse, applicant or applicant's spouse is overdue in his or her payment to the City of taxes, fees, fines, or penalties assessed against him or her.

(5) The proposed business does not comply with the zoning and/or locational dispersal requirements contained in the Inglewood Municipal Code.

(6) The owner, owner's spouse, applicant, or applicant's spouse has within five years immediately preceding the application, been convicted of a violation of Section 315 or 316 of the Penal Code as currently written, or as later amended or renumbered; or has been enjoined by a criminal or civil court from the operation of an adult oriented or massage related business, or tanning salon. This provision shall only apply to applications for adult oriented or massage related businesses, or tanning salons. The fact that a conviction is being appealed shall have no effect.

(7) An applicant, applicant's spouse, owner, or owner's spouse has been convicted of a crime that directly relates to operation of the proposed business applied for. The fact that a conviction is being appealed shall have no effect. For applicants for adult oriented businesses, massage related businesses and tanning salons, this provision shall be limited to evidence that the applicant, applicant's spouse, owner, or owner's spouse has been convicted of crimes of prostitution, compelling prostitution, promotion of prostitution, obscenity, the sale, distribution or display of harmful material to minors, sexual performance by a child, possession of child pornography, public lewdness, indecent exposure, indecency with a child, or similar criminal offenses. A permit shall, nevertheless, be issued to any person convicted of the described crimes if the conviction occurred more than five years prior to the date of the application, if a felony, or more than three years prior to the date of the application, if a misdemeanor.

(8) The applicant is under eighteen years of age.

(9) The application or the applicant of any adult oriented business, massage related business, or tanning salon does not meet all the applicable development and performance standards and requirements contained in Sections 12-94.2, 12-95.4.1, 12.95.4.2, and 12.95.4.3 of the Inglewood Municipal Code.

(Ord. 02-21 6-11-02)

In the event a permit is issued for a business activity, it shall be in written form and when received by the applicant must be posted in a conspicuous place on any business premises where the business or activity for which such permit issued is conducted and shall remain so posted during the entire period the permit shall be in force.

(1) If the Permits and Licenses employee designated by the City to accept applications determines that the applicant has completed the application improperly, or otherwise deems the application to be incomplete, the designated employee shall, within ten days of receipt of the original application, notify the applicant of such fact and, on request of the applicant, grant the applicant an extension of time of ten days or less to submit a complete application. In addition, the applicant may request an extension, not to exceed ten days, of the time for the City to act on the application. The time period for granting or denying a Business License or other appropriate permit shall be stayed during the period in which the applicant is granted an extension of time.

(2) Upon receipt of a completed application and payment of the application and permit fees, the City shall immediately stamp the application as received and promptly investigate the information contained in the application to determine whether the applicant shall be issued a business license or other appropriate permit.

(3) The issuing body or officer may cause such investigations to be made of the applicants and the proposed activity as may be determined to be necessary in order to protect the public interest including a police investigation. The City Council and Permits and Licenses Committee may compel the presence of witnesses together with relevant records by subpoena.

(4) Within forty-five days of receipt of the completed application (or thirty days for Adult Oriented Businesses), the City shall complete the investigation, schedule a hearing before the Permits and Licenses Committee if required, grant or deny the application in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, and so notify the applicant of its decision. If a Special Use Permit is required in addition to approval by the Permits and Licenses Committee, the final decision to grant or deny the application shall be stayed to allow additional time in accordance with the time period requirements of Sections 12-96.2 through 12-96.14 of the Inglewood Municipal Code. Additionally, if a Site Plan Review and Building Permit approvals are required, an additional one hundred twenty days shall be allowed after Committee approval and/or after the issuance of a Special Use Permit.

(a) The City shall write or stamp "Granted" or "Denied" on the application and date and sign such notation.

(b) If the application is denied, the City shall attach to the application a statement of the reasons for the denial.

(c) If the application is granted, the City shall attach to the application a business license or other appropriate permit.

(d) The application as granted or denied and the business license or other appropriate permit, if any, shall be placed in the United States mail, first-class postage prepaid, addressed to the applicant at the address stated in the application.

(5) The City shall grant the application, and issue the business license or other appropriate permit upon finding that the proposed business meets all zoning requirements and other city requirements unless the application is denied for one or more of the reasons set forth in Section 8-33 of the Inglewood Municipal Code.

(6) If the City grants the application or if the City neither grants or denies the application within forty-five days (thirty days for adult oriented businesses) after it is stamped received, the applicant may begin operating the business for which the permit was sought subject to strict compliance with any City, County, State or Federal regulations.

(Ord. 02-21 6-11-02)

An application fee shall be paid by each applicant at the time of filing in the amount designated in this Section for each category of permit sought. The City Council does hereby find and determine that the administrative and investigative costs involved in processing applications for permits vary with the type of permit applied for and accordingly:

Category 1 applications shall be payable in the sum of $25; and

Category 2 applications shall be payable in the sum of $50; and

Category 3 applications shall be payable in the sum of $100; and

Category 4 applications shall be payable in the sum of $250; and

Category 5 applications shall be payable in the sum of a minimum of $500 based on the presumption that the reasonable administrative and investigative costs of processing the application will be at least that amount. However, the applicant shall pay the City's costs, not to exceed $2,500. A deposit of $2,500 shall be required to be paid by the applicant before the application will be processed. A refund of not more than $2,000 shall be returned to the applicant for any costs not actually incurred by the City.

(Ord. 2453 9-20-83; Ord. 01-14 10-2-01)

(1) The applicant or any person dissatisfied with the determination of the issuing officer relative to any application for a permit or license filed hereunder, or the revocation or suspension of any permit may appeal to the Committee from said determination, provided a written notice of appeal is filed not later than ten days from the date of the notice to applicant of the determination made on the application. A fifteen dollar ($15.00) fee shall be paid at the time of filing any appeal. (If the initial determination relative to any permit or license was made by the Committee, then any appeal shall be made directly to the City Council as set forth below, and not by a second review of the same Committee).

(2) In the event that the applicant is dissatisfied with the initial or appellate determination of the Committee, an appeal or further appeal may be made to the City Council provided that a written notice of appeal is filed not later than ten days from the date of the notice to the applicant of the Committee's determination. When notice of determination is given to the applicant by mail, it shall be conclusively presumed to have been received on the fifth day following its deposit in the mail.

(3) Upon the filing of a proper appeal (including fees) from a determination of the Committee, the appeal shall be set for review at a meeting of the City Council not sooner than twenty days and not more than fifty-five days after the appeal was received by the Committee Recording Secretary. The applicant shall be given a minimum of ten days' notice of the date and location of the scheduled appeal.

(4) In the hearing of appeals, the City Council shall review the entire record below, including, but not limited to, the permit application, minutes, photographs, videos, documentation, and other relevant information relied upon by the Committee. Additional evidence or documentation not presented to the Committee may be rejected at the discretion of the City Council. The hearing of the appeal may be heard at a regularly scheduled City Council meeting or at any other properly noticed time and location. The hearing shall be open to the public, but it shall not be a public hearing. The City Council shall make a decision on the appeal by a majority vote of those present at the appeal, and said decision of the Council shall be final.

(5) If the denial, suspension or revocation is affirmed on review, the applicant or permittee may seek review of such administrative action pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.5 et seq. If the denial, suspension or revocation involves an adult business the applicant or permittee may seek prompt judicial review of such administrative action pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.8. The City shall make all reasonable efforts to expedite judicial review. Provided that the adult business is otherwise in compliance with the requirements of the Inglewood Municipal Code, the adult business may continue to operate pending final administrative determination.

(Ord. 2453 9-20-83; Ord. 02-21 6-11-02)

If, in the judgment of the Committee, the facts and circumstances relating to any application for permit or license are such that the public interest or the rights of the applicant would be better served by consideration of the subject matter thereof by the City Council, then the Committee may order that the said application be transmitted to the City Council for consideration. The issuing officer may likewise refer any application to the Committee.

In the event an application for permit is approved, a written notification of that fact shall be issued to applicant:

(1) By the secretary of the Committee if the Committee is the issuing officer; or

(2) By the City officer, and approved by the Finance Director as to content, if such officer is the issuing officer; or

(3) By the City Clerk if the City Council is the issuing officer.

(Ord. 03-19 10-14-03; Ord. 07-08 4-25-07)

In the event a permit is issued for a business activity, it shall be in written form and when received by the applicant must be posted in a conspicuous place on any business premises where the business or activity for which such permit is issued is conducted and shall remain so posted during the entire period the permit shall be in force.

No permit issued under this Chapter shall be transferable except by consent of the issuing officer or body.

In the event a fee is not designated for a particular business or activity and which is subject to the provisions of this Chapter, the Committee or City Council may fix a fee in relation to similar businesses or activities for which a fee has been designated.

In the event any business or activity involving the public is not designated in this Chapter as requiring a permit, the Permits and Licenses Committee may, by resolution, designate such business or activity as requiring a permit to be issued pursuant to the procedures of this Article.

Those businesses or activities which, by their nature, require special regulation in order to protect the public safety, health and welfare, may be designated by the Committee as requiring compliance with the provisions of this Article.

All provisions of this Code requiring issuance of a permit as a condition to doing business or engaging in an activity which is not specifically designated in this Chapter, shall be governed by the procedures of this Article and the issuing body with respect thereto will be the Permits and Licenses Committee. Businesses or activities exceeding the scope of a Special Use Permit heretofore issued, shall be in like manner included upon designation of the Committee.

The right to operate any business or other activity for which a permit is required under this Chapter may be suspended forthwith without notice and without hearing, in the event such suspension is necessary for the preservation and protection of public health, morals, safety or general welfare if so determined by any officer charged with the responsibility of issuing permits, the Committee on Permits and Licenses, or the City Council; provided, however, that no suspension shall continue for more than fifteen days unless proceedings regarding revocation have been duly instituted in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in or operate any business or activity which is designated in this Chapter as requiring a permit, without first duly obtaining a permit in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

The following businesses and activities shall require a written permit duly obtained from the Finance Director:

(1) Auction sales.

(2) Bankrupt stock sales.

(3) Bicycle operation.

(4) Going out of business sale.

(Ord. 03-19 10-14-03)

The following businesses and activities shall require a written permit duly obtained from the Traffic Authority:

(1) Parades and demonstrations on public rights-of-way.

(2) Street dances, exhibitions and games.

(Ord. 2453 9-20-83)

The following businesses and activities shall require a written permit duly obtained from the Health Officer:

Food establishments.