A. The City Council shall review all applications for business licenses and approve or deny the same based on its judgment as to what is necessary to protect and maintain the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City and/or reasonably lessen the adverse impact on existing residential homes or businesses within the City.
B. The City Council may delay action to approve or deny an application if the City Council determines that understanding the impact on the health, safety and welfare of residents and visitors and/or determining the impact on residential homes or businesses within the City require additional information or investigation to properly review and consider the application for approval.
C. The City Council may consider the following list of criteria when reviewing applications for business licenses, but the following is not intended to be and is not an exhaustive list since what is necessary to maintain the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City and/or impact on existing residential homes or businesses within the City is not susceptible to a finite list of criteria and will vary depending on a wide range of circumstances. Granting business licenses is discretionary and the City Council is vested with broad discretion to consider any and all factors and criteria which it believes are necessary to protect and maintain the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City and/or reasonably lessen any adverse impact on existing residential homes or businesses within the City. The following is a partial list of criteria which may be considered along with the unique circumstances that are shown to exist at the time the City Council considers applications for business licenses:
1. The City Council may deny an application if the applicant is under eighteen (18) years of age.
2. The City Council may consider that the applicant has failed to truthfully answer a question on the license application or failed to provide information and documentation required by this Lava Hot Springs Business and Special Event Regulation Code or requested by the City Clerk or the City Council in the course of considering or investigating the application.
3. The City Council may consider whether the applicant's business location is in compliance with the Building Code Ordinance of the City of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.
4. The City Council may consider whether the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City will be endangered by the operation of the proposed business.
5. The City Council may consider whether there are practical methods to reasonably lessen any adverse impact on existing residential homes or businesses within the City by the operation of the proposed business and impose the same as conditions to approval of the business license.
6. The City Council may consider whether the applicant refuses to agree to accept, or is unlikely to follow or enforce, reasonable limits on the operation of the proposed business which would reasonably mitigate the danger to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City and/or would lessen the adverse impact on existing residential homes or business within the City.
7. The City Council may consider that the applicant for a new or renewal business license to operate a hotel, or a rental unit, or a boarding house, or a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental or a tourist home have failed to adequately provide for the health and safety of occupants, safeguard the general welfare of nearby property owners or residents; and protect the integrity of residential neighborhoods. If the applicant for a renewal business license to operate a hotel, or a rental unit, or a boarding house, or a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental or a tourist home has increased the number of bedrooms, the number of permissible occupants and/or decreased the off-street parking, the renewal will be rejected and the applicant will be required to process the application as an application for a new business license rather than a renewal business license.
8. When considering the renewal of business licenses and extensions of thirty (30) day business licenses, the City Council may consider whether the applicant, or the Mayor, or the City Clerk, or the City Code Enforcement Officer have received complaints regarding the operation of the business in the twelve (12) months preceding the renewal application or in the thirty (30) days preceding the extension application. If the applicant has received complaints regarding the operation of the business, the applicant shall disclose the complaints in the renewal/extension application and/or shall be prepared to explain the circumstances surrounding any complaints received by the Mayor, or the City Clerk, or the City Code Enforcement Officer. The applicant will be expected to explain to the City Council at the meeting in which the renewal/extension is considered what, if any, remedial actions the applicant has taken to remedy the complaints and will take in the future to prevent a recurrence of such complaints which the City Council finds to be credible dangers to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to the City and/or finds as credible adverse impacts on the integrity of residential neighborhoods and commercial areas in the City. Failure to adequately address complaints and provide remedial action to the satisfaction of the City Council may be grounds to deny a renewal/extension of a business license.
D. After approval by the City Council, the City Clerk shall issue a business license to the applicant. (Ord. 2020-3, 8-13-2020)