PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to provide the City Council with information for their consideration to approve staff�s recommendation to amend Chapters 3, 5, and 8 of Burbank Municipal Code. It is staff�s desire to amend these chapters  for the purpose of consolidating regulatory business license fees, business permit fees, and associated application fees by removing these fees from the text of the Burbank Municipal Code and placing them into the Burbank Fee Resolution.  In addition, staff wishes to remove specified outdated business licensing and business permitting requirements and terminologies from the Burbank Municipal Code.

BACKGROUND

There are over eighty (80) different types of regulatory business licenses and business permits delineated in the Burbank Municipal Code.  The initial establishment of many of these licenses and permits occurred over sixty (60) years ago.  Throughout the years as regulatory business licensing and business permitting evolved, any new or amended license or permit fee was automatically placed in the Burbank Fee Resolution.  At this time these fee references were removed from the text of the Burbank Municipal Code and added to the Burbank Fee Resolution.  This has been a very slow process.  If a regulatory business license, business permit, or application fee hadn�t been amended, that fee remained in the text of the Burbank Municipal Code.  Fees located within the text of the code remain separated from all other city fees which are located in the Burbank Fee Resolution.

Currently, there isn�t a centralized location or listing of regulatory business licenses and business permit fees.  Some fees are located in the Burbank Fee Resolution, while other fees are located in the individual ordinances within the actual text of the Burbank Municipal Code.   It is staff�s desire to place all the regulatory business license, business permit, and related application fees in one easy-to-find location, that being, the Burbank Fee Resolution.

The majority of existing regulatory licenses and permits continue to have applicability to our modern culture and society, and are therefore necessary to maintain control and regulation of certain types of business activities.  However, some of the types of businesses regulated by the Burbank Municipal Code no longer exist.  Therefore, the necessity for regulation, via licensing, ceases. For instance, there is still a strong rationale and need to regulate: Psychic Arts (Fortunetelling); Firearms Dealers; Massage Parlors; Pool Rooms; Food Peddlers; Adult Entertainment activities; the taxicab industry; Escort Services; the tow truck industry; Solicitors (door-to-door); and many other types of businesses.

However, some of our regulatory business licenses and business permits are no longer needed.  There is no need for these licenses or permits because  either the actual business service no longer exists, or the terminology for describing the nature of the business, is no longer applicable.  A few examples of some of the types of businesses staff is recommending to be deleted from regulatory business license or business permit requirements are:  Mobile Home Park; Scissors and Knife Sharpening; Old Age Home; Mental Institution; Private Boarding School; Grad Night Parties; Drayage; and Rooming House.   Attached is Exhibit A which is a matrix of the regulatory business licenses and business permits that will be subject to having their associated fees removed from the Burbank Municipal Code and placed in the Burbank Fee Resolution.  Also included in the matrix are regulatory business licenses and business permits which staff feels are candidates for deletion.

ANALYSIS

Adoption of staff�s recommendation to consolidate all regulatory business license and business permit fees into the Burbank Fee Resolution will �de-complicate� searching for regulatory business license, business permit, and application fees.  This consolidation will also facilitate a more efficient annual review of any, or all, regulatory business license and business permit fee structures.  In addition, deleting antiquated regulatory business license and business permit requirements and terminologies, will modernize the Burbank Municipal Code pertaining to such matters.

FISCAL IMPACT

At this time there are no fiscal impacts for adopting staff�s recommendations.  However, during the next annual City Council review of the Burbank Fee Resolution staff is anticipating recommendations to Council which would allow the City to recoup most costs associated with the regulation of certain types of businesses via regulatory business license and business permit fees.

RECOMMENDATION

It is staff�s recommendation that the City Council adopt �AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING CHAPTERS 3, 5, AND 8 OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO REGULATORY BUSINESS LICENSE, BUSINESS PERMIT, AND RELATED APPLICATION FEES�

Attachments

Exhibit A      Regulatory Business License and Business Permit Matrix

Exhibit B      Copy of Ordinance

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