Lake Forest Municipal Code Ch. 5.02 General

For purposes of this title, the following terms shall have the meaning set forth herein:

"Alarm agent"

means any person who is employed by an alarm business, either directly or indirectly, whose duties include any one or more of the following: selling, maintaining, leasing, servicing, repairing, inspecting, altering, replacing, moving or installing on or in any building, structure or facility, any alarm system, but shall not include persons engaged in the manufacture or sale of alarm systems from fixed locations and who neither visit the location where such alarm system will be installed nor design the plan for the physical location and installation of such alarm system at a specific location.

"Alarm business"

means the work, occupation or profession of any person who performs, authorizes, directs, or causes the selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, inspection, repairing, altering, replacement, moving or installing of any alarm system, including any business that monitors alarms.

"Alarm subscriber"

means any person who purchases, leases, contracts for, or otherwise obtains an alarm system or for the servicing or maintenance of an alarm system.

"Alarm system"

means any mechanical or electronic device installed at private property which emits a sound or transmits a signal or message when activated, designed or used for:

The detection of an unauthorized entry into, or unlawful act committed within, a building, structure, facility; or

The detection of fire, smoke, heat or which requires response of medical equipment; and

Creates an action or response from City fire or police personnel.

"Animal exhibition"

means any property where one or more animals are exposed to public view for entertainment, instruction or advertisement, including animal acts. Activities conducted primarily for the instruction or entertainment of the participants for which no public admission is charged, are excluded from this definition.

"Animal rental establishment"

means a place or facility where animals, other than dogs, cats or equines, are kept or maintained for hire.

"Animal rescuer"

means any person who obtains stray, seized, distressed, homeless, abandoned or unwanted animals for the purpose of harboring or finding homes for such animals. A pet shop shall not be considered an animal rescuer for purposes of this Title 5.

"Animal show or event"

means a tent show or show in the open air, or in a hall or building not specifically constructed for theatrical purposes, wherein performances or exhibitions involving animals are given to audiences not exceeding 2,500 persons.

"Business"

means any business, trade, occupation, practice or profession.

"Commercial"

means operated or carried on primarily for financial gain.

"Commercial stable"

means any property where equines are sheltered or fed on a commercial basis

"County"

means the County of Orange.

"Direct alarm"

means any alarm system connecting an authorized source to City fire or police facilities by a leased telephone line that may be connected by any automatic dialing device or any other direct line that has no intermediate station.

"Established place of business"

means the place where any person, firm or corporation conducts any retail or other establishment having a permanent address and being regularly open for business from day to day during ordinary business hours.

"Grooming parlor"

means any and each individual physical facility, whether fixed or mobile, where animals are groomed, brushed, clipped or bathed on a commercial basis. Each individual grooming parlor, whether fixed or mobile, shall be subject to inspection and shall be required to have a separate permit regardless of such grooming parlor being under common ownership with any other grooming parlor.

"Kennel"

means any property where four or more dogs, or four or more cats, over the age of four months, are kept or maintained for any purpose, whether or not for profit, including, but not limited to, animal rescuers but excepting veterinary clinics and veterinary hospitals.

"Pawnbroker"

means a person, firm or corporation engaged in conducting, managing or carrying on the business of pawnbroking or the business of lending money for him or herself or any other person, firm or corporation upon personal property, pawns or pledges, or the business of purchasing articles of personal property and reselling or agreeing to resell such articles to the vendors or their assignees at prices agreed upon at or before the time of such purchase.

"Pecuniary compensation"

means any commission, fee, gratuity, hire, profit, reward, or any other form of consideration.

"Peddler"

means and includes every person who travels from place to place or has a stand upon any public street, alley or other public place, in the doorway of any room or building, or upon any lot or parcel of land, who sells or offers for sale any goods, wares or merchandise in his possession, other than food, or who, for him or herself or as an agent of another, goes from house to house for the purpose of soliciting orders or subscriptions for any goods, wares, merchandise or product, of any nature or description, for future delivery, except salespeople or solicitors regularly employed by any wholesale house or jobber, who take or solicit orders from retailers or other merchants conducting a regularly established place of business.

"Person"

means both the singular and the plural, and shall also mean and include person, individual, firm, corporation, copartnership, association, club, society or any other organization.

"Pet shop"

means any person or facility engaged in the sale or trade of live animals, including fish, birds and reptiles, on a commercial basis.

"Public dance"

means a gathering of persons in or upon any premises where dancing is participated in, either as the main purpose of such gathering or incidental to some other purpose, and to which premises the public is admitted, either with or without charge, and to which not more than 2,500 persons shall be admitted.

"Roadside market"

means any vehicle, booth, stand, tent, house or other place or structure at or in which goods, wares, merchandise, food, products, vegetables or other commodities are sold, exposed for sale, bartered or given away, or where any business of any nature or kind is transacted.

"Secondhand dealer"

as used in this chapter means, and includes, any person, partnership or corporation whose business is that of engaging in buying, selling, trading, taking in pawn, accepting for sale on consignment, accepting for auctioning or auctioning secondhand personal property. "Secondhand dealer" also means any person who owns or operates an auction or any other event at which two or more persons offer secondhand personal property for sale or exchange and where a fee is charged for the privilege either of offering or displaying such property for sale or exchange or for admission of prospective buyers to the area where such property is offered or displayed for sale or exchange, but does not include a person who owns the land on which the auction or event occurs if he or she has no control over such auction or event and has no personal knowledge of any facts arising from such auction or event which constitute a violation of any provisions of this chapter.

"Security officer"

means an individual engaged in the act of guarding property as the owner, member or employee of a security system.

"Security system"

means any private service or private system which purports to furnish or does furnish to members or subscribers, any watchman or guard, either uniformed or otherwise, or any guard dog to patrol any part of the City of Lake Forest or to guard or watch any property, including guarding against theft, fire, or both, or to perform any service usually and customarily performed by the City's police personnel. Security system does not include the guarding of property of a single owner by one or more individuals who are employed by such owner.

"Taxicab stand"

means the portion of a City street designated by the Director of Public Works pursuant to this title for the use of taxicabs while waiting for employment.

(Ord. 167 § 4, 2007; Ord. 200 § 4, 5-19-2009; Ord. 247 §§ 2—4, 2013; Ord. 302 § 4, 2018)

It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to engage in, conduct, manage or carry on any of the following businesses, practices, professions or occupations within the City of Lake Forest without first having obtained a license therefor in accordance with Chapter 5.04 of this title:

Animal exhibition;

Animal rental establishment;

Bingo games;

Carnival or livestock show;

Commercial stable;

Grooming parlor;

Kennel;

Peddler;

Pet shop;

Public dance;

Retail sale of concealable firearms;

Security system or security officer;

Taxicab stand.

(Ord. 167 § 4, 2007; Ord. 200 § 5, 5-19-2009; Ord. 247 § 5, 2013; Ord. 302 § 4, 2018)

The business regulations contained in this title shall apply to any business, occupation, practice, profession or trade conducted in the City of Lake Forest named in this title, whether or not a license from the City is required or obtained therefor, and whether carried on individually or in conjunction with any other activity.

(Ord. 167 § 4, 2007; Ord. 302 § 4, 2018)

No license issued or payment of business tax under the provisions of this chapter shall be construed as authorizing the conduct or continuance of any illegal business or of a legal business in an illegal manner. Notwithstanding any provision in this Code to the contrary, any use of land, operation, or business that is in violation of State and/or Federal law shall be prohibited in all planning areas, districts, or zones within the City.

(Ord. 167 § 4, 2007; Ord. 302 § 4, 2018)