Chapter 3 of Article 6 of the Carson Municipal Code may be cited as the "Business License Ordinance" of the City of Carson.
(Ord. 71-161 § 2)
Neither the adoption of this Chapter nor the repeal hereby of any ordinance or provision of the Carson Municipal Code shall in any manner affect any prosecution for any violation of ordinance or code committed prior to the effective date hereof, nor be construed as a waiver of any license or penalty due and unpaid on the effective date hereof, or of any remedy for enforcement thereof and all rights and obligations pertaining thereto shall continue in full force and effect.
(Ord. 71-161 § 2)
This Chapter is not intended to repeal, abrogate, annul or in any way impair or interfere with any ordinance or provision of the Carson Municipal Code except as herein specifically provided. Where this Chapter imposes a greater restriction upon persons, premises or property than is imposed or required by another ordinance, other provisions of this Code, or law, the provisions of the Business License Ordinance shall apply or control to the full extent permitted by law.
(Ord. 71-161 § 2)
For the purpose of the Business License Ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivation shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is mandatory and not merely directory.
shall mean any person who drives an ambulance in which is transported any person needing medical attention which person entered or was placed in such ambulance at a location within the City of Carson.
shall mean any person who for any monetary or other consideration, or as an incident to any other occupation, transports persons in one (1) or more ambulances from any location in the City of Carson to any hospital or other place giving first aid or medical treatment, regardless of the location of such hospital or other place. A person who maintains an ambulance or ambulances in connection with the operation by such person of a hospital or first aid station solely for the use of his own employees is not considered to be an ambulance operator.
shall mean any building or portion thereof, which is designed, built, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied, or which is occupied as a home or residence of three (3) or more families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking in the said building, and shall include flats and apartments.
shall mean and include a fixed place of business where any personal property or any real property or interest therein, is sold or offered for sale by public outcry or public auction. An Auction House may include sales of such merchandise and personal property as an incidental part of such public auction business.
shall mean and include any person selling or offering for sale any real or personal property at public auction or by public outcry.
shall mean the disassembling, dismantling or wrecking of motor vehicles, as defined in Section 415 of the California Vehicle Code, or the buying, selling or dealing in any such motor vehicles for the purpose of, or to be used for, such disassembling, dismantling or wrecking, or the storage of any such motor vehicles for such purpose or use, whether for the purpose of dealing in the parts thereof, or using such parts for reconditioning or repair of other vehicles, or for selling or otherwise dealing in such vehicles, or any parts or materials thereof.
shall mean any place where motor vehicles, as defined by Section 415 of the California Vehicle Code, are repaired for a charge, or, any place where the work of repairing motor vehicles is carried on as an incident to the business of selling new or used motor vehicles, or new or used motor vehicles parts, or as an incident to any other traffic in motor vehicles or their parts or equipment.
when the annual license fee is based upon the average number of persons employed, shall mean the average number of employees, as defined herein, employed daily in the business of the applicant or licensee, and shall be determined as provided in CMC § 6363.
means the business of owning, opening, establishing, managing, operating, maintaining or having charge of any temporary location or place of business of any kind for the selling of any insolvent, bankrupt, fire damaged or other similar goods, wares, or merchandise, and/or any temporary place where itinerant or transient merchants sell or offer to sell any insolvent, bankrupt, fire damaged or other similar goods, wares or merchandise.
shall mean a place where water, mud, steam Turkish, Russian, Swedish, or other baths are given to or administered to human beings.
shall mean a person constructing, reconstructing or erecting a building, dwelling, or structure not intended for his own occupancy.
includes "pool room" and means any place open to the public where billiards, bagatelle, or pool table is kept and persons are permitted to play thereon, whether any compensation or reward is charged for the use of such table. "Billiard Room" does not include a place having not more than one (1) standard size pool or billiard table or three (3) three and one-half (3-1/2) foot by seven (7) foot or less pool or billiard tables which are maintained as an incidental activity to some other type of business or activity.
as used herein includes all kinds of vocations, occupations, professions, enterprises, establishments, and all other kinds of activities and matters, together with all devices, machines, vehicles and appurtenances used therein, any of which are conducted for object of gain, benefit or advantage, whether direct or indirect, to the taxpayer or to another or others whether or not a profit or livelihood is actually earned thereby. Business, professions and trades shall include, but shall not be limited to, trades and occupations of all and every kind of calling carried on within the City of Carson, salesmen, brokers, retailers, manufacturers, processors, wholesalers, vendors, suppliers, peddlers, professions, the renting or supplying of living quarters, or rooms, or board, or both for three (3) or more guests, tenants, or occupiers and any other types of endeavor entered into within the City of Carson for object of gain, benefit or advantage, whether direct or indirect to the taxpayer or to another or others, or profit in whole or in part whether paid for in money, goods, labor, or otherwise and whether or not said business, profession or trade has a fixed place of business in the City.
Unless exempted by provisions of this Chapter, a person shall be deemed to be conducting a business, profession or trade within the City if he, or his agents, or employees offer, solicit, sell, contract, construct, make, deliver, repair, or perform other acts or services within the City in respect to such business, trade or profession. | |
The term "business, profession or trades" shall not apply to any person engaged in a business, profession or trade solely as an employee of any other person conducting, managing or carrying on any such business, trade or profession in the City and where such other person is subject to the terms and provisions of this Chapter. | |
Additionally, in any dispute between a city, city and county or county and a taxpayer, the manner in which a taxpayer reports or reported income to the Franchise Tax Board or Internal Revenue Service shall create a presumption regarding whether the taxpayer performed services for an employer as an employee, or operated as a business entity. | |
The term "engaged in business" shall mean the conducting, operating, managing or carrying on of a business, whether done as owner, or by means of an officer, agent, manager or employee. A person shall be deemed engaged in business with the City if: | |
(1) | Such person or his employee maintains a fixed place of business within the City for the benefit or partial benefit of such person; or |
(2) | Such person or his employee owns or leases real property within the City for business purposes; or |
(3) | Such person or his employee regularly maintains a stock of tangible personal property in the City for sale in the ordinary course of business; or |
(4) | Such person or his employee regularly conducts solicitation of business within the City; or |
(5) | Such person or his employee performs work or renders services on a regular and continuous basis involving not less than seven (7) working days per year for all such employees; or |
(6) | Such person or his employee utilizes the streets within the City in connection with the operation of motor vehicles for business purposes. |
The foregoing specified activities shall not be a limitation on the meaning of "engaged in business." | |
shall mean any person or entity possessing certification by the California Department of Food and Agriculture to operate as a certified farmer and is engaged in the business of selling fruits, vegetables, plants and other agricultural items produced by them, on a seasonal, temporary or intermittent basis, at any City authorized and permitted Farmers' Market.
shall mean and include any tent or canvas enclosure wherein are exhibited acts or feats of horsemanship, trained animals, clown, acrobatic or trapeze performances or such other forms of skill or amusements as are commonly given in rings, and combinations of such entertainments.
shall mean the City of Carson unless otherwise specified.
shall mean the Carson Municipal Code unless otherwise specified.
shall mean and include commence, begin, initiate, start, open and establish.
means and includes any person who engages in, carries on or conducts the business of buying or selling produce, foodstuffs or any food product, commodities, goods, wares or merchandise as a broker or agent for the owner or assignor thereof, for a fee or commission, whether or not the operation of such business customarily includes the actual possession, custody or control of such produce, foodstuffs or any food product, commodities, goods, wares or merchandise.
shall mean and include commence, transact, maintain, prosecute, practice, do, operate and carry on.
shall mean the Chief of Police of the City of Carson and shall include the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles or his duly authorized officers, deputies and representatives, while performing law enforcement services under contract with the City.
shall mean any person except a licensed architect or a registered civil engineer acting solely in his professional capacity, who in any capacity other than as the employee of another with wages or salary as his sole compensation, undertakes to, or offers to undertake, or purports to have the capacity to undertake to, or submits a bid to, or does himself or by or through others construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, move, wreck, or demolish any building, highway, road, railroad, excavation, or other structure, project, development, improvement, or any part thereof, including the erection of scaffolding or other structures or work in connection therewith. Contractor shall include subcontractor or specialty contractor, but shall not include anyone who merely furnishes materials or supplies without fabricating them into, or consuming them in the performance of, the work of the contractor.
means a place where dancing is permitted, either for profit or not for profit, and to which the public is admitted either with or without charge, or at which the public is allowed to participate in the dancing, either with or without charge.
means a gathering of persons in or upon any premises where dancing is permitted either as the main purpose for such gathering or as an incident to some other purpose.
means a gathering of persons in or upon any premises where dancing is permitted either as the main purpose for such gathering or as an incident to some other purpose, and to which premises only members, pupils, or bona fide guests of a particular club, organization, dancing club, or dancing school are admitted; provided however, that dancing by the occupants of, and guests at, a private residence shall not constitute a private dance as defined herein.
means an individual public dance or private dance conducted by any person, dancing club, dancing school, or association of persons, dancing clubs or dancing schools, which dance, if authorized, will result in not more than three (3) such dances being held by such persons or group in any three (3) month period.
means a public dance or a private dance to which persons under the age of twenty-one (21) years are admitted as participants.
means any club or association of persons which conducts dances, other than public dances, for its members or bona fide guests.
means any school, class or classes wherein dancing is the principal subject taught.
shall mean all persons engaged in the operation or conduct of any business in the City of Carson, whether as owner, any member of the owner's family, partner, agent, manager, solicitor, apprentices, trainees, and any and all other person employed or working in said business.
means any act, play, review, pantomime, fashion or style show, exhibition dancing scene, song, dance act, song and dance act, or exhibition of motion pictures conducted or participated in or upon any premises to which the public is admitted. Entertainment as used does not include:
means entertainment not otherwise classified in this Chapter.
means entertainment which includes nude or semi-nude persons. "Nude" means completely without clothing or covering. "Semi-nude" means with partial clothing or covering but with any pubic area exposed or with the perineum or any portion of the crease of the buttocks exposed, or with the breast or breasts exposed by a female so that the nipple or nipples or that portion of the breast which has a different pigmentation than the main portion of the breast is or are exposed.
means any entertainment as defined under "Entertainment" (other than Class II) conducted or participated in only by any nonprofessional person or persons.
shall mean and include a business intended to be operated or conducted permanently or indefinitely, or a business the nature or mode of operation of which indicates that the business operation will continue permanently or indefinitely. In all cases where the nature or mode of operation of a business does not indicate that such business will continue permanently or indefinitely, the person operating or conducting such business may be required by the City Administrator to present evidence reasonably necessary to demonstrate that such business is intended to be operated or conducted permanently or indefinitely.
means and includes moving picture exhibitions, theatrical performances, carnivals, circuses, races, and other similar activities conducted in the open or at places of public assemblage as to which a fee is charged for entry or viewing, excluding therefrom entertainment as defined under "Entertainment," "Entertainment Class I," "Entertainment Class II," and "Entertainment Class III," animal menageries or exhibitions as defined in Sections 219 and 220 of the Animal Control Ordinance adopted by CMC § 3300, and events conducted by schools or churches using their own equipment.
shall mean any person selling farm products produced by them.
as used in this Section is any temporary, intermittent or seasonal place of business approved by the City of Carson and properly permitted and licensed within the City of Carson to host certified farmers offering agricultural items for sale on a seasonal, temporary or intermittent basis.
shall mean the Chief of the Los Angeles Consolidated Fire District and his authorized assistants, deputies, inspectors and representatives, while designated by the City Council of the City as the Fire Chief of the City.
shall mean and include all articles and substances used for food, drink, confectionary or condiment by man, whether simple, mixed or compound.
shall mean and include the business or art of telling fortunes, forecasting of future events, or furnishing of any information not otherwise obtainable by the ordinary process of knowledge, by means of any occult or psychic power, faculty or force, including, but not limited to clairvoyance, clairaudience, cartomancy, psychology, psychometry, phrenology, spirits, tea leaves or other such readings, mediumship, seership, prophecy, augury, astrology, palmistry, necromancy, mind-reading, telepathy, or other craft, art, science, cards, talisman, charm, potion, magnetism, magnetized article or substance, crystal gazing, oriental mysteries or magic, of any kind or nature, for any form of compensation.
shall mean any person or firm engaged in the business of landscape or garden maintenance and upkeep, such as cutting lawns, tending flower beds, putting in trees and shrubs, and other similar activities. This definition shall not include a landscape contractor licensed pursuant to the State Business and Professions Code to handle landscape contracting.
is any person, firm, or corporation who sells or otherwise transfers to the public, any pistol, revolver or other firearm, new or used, capable of being concealed upon the person. "Gun Dealer" includes any person, firm or corporation who purchases, takes in trade, or accepts on consignment from the public, any firearm of any type, including, but not limited to, pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns.
is any building containing three (3) or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied, or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests.
shall mean any person, except licensed psychologists, physicians, family, child and marriage counselors and qualified persons acting at the request of police agencies in the investigation of crimes, engaged in the art or practice of hypnosis or in the teaching of self-hypnosis for persons undergoing a course or program of avocational or vocational self-improvement, acting pursuant to and subject to the limitations and purposes of Section 2908 of the California Business and Professions Code, as amended.
shall mean any person engaged in the business of vending, selling, or offering for sale, any confections, food, fruits, vegetables, flowers, notions, magazines, mechanical devices or appliances, or any other goods, wares, or merchandise from any stand, doorway or location on or adjacent to any street, alley, or other public place, or on or adjacent to any unenclosed vacant lot or parcel of land.
shall mean any person having no fixed place of business in the City, carrying on the business of collecting, buying or selling from house to house, or from place to place, any old rags, sacks, bottles, cans, paper, metal or other articles commonly known as junk or salvage.
shall mean any person not an automobile dismantler or operator or an oil tool exchange, having a fixed place of business in the City and carrying on the business of buying, selling or otherwise dealing in, either at wholesale or retail, any old rags, sacks, bottles, cans, paper, metal (except gold, silver, platinum or mercury), or other articles commonly known as junk or salvage, or conducting, managing or maintaining any place where such articles are gathered together, stored or kept for shipment, sale or transfer.
shall mean the certificate issued by the Finance Director of the City after payment of the license fee provided for in Part 3 of this Chapter.
shall mean the License Supervisor of the City of Carson.
means any person engaging in the business, trade, or occupation of making or fashioning keys for locks or similar devices, or constructing, reconstructing or repairing or adjusting locks, or opening or closing locks for others by mechanical means other than the regular keys furnished for that purpose with the locks by the manufacturer of the locks. A person who only duplicates keys is not a locksmith.
means any person engaged in any one (1) or more of the following businesses:
Pawnbroking;
Lending money for himself or any other person upon personal property, pawns or pledges, in or taken into the possession of the lender;
Purchasing articles of personal property and reselling or agreeing to resell such articles to the vendors or assignors at prices agreed upon at or before the time of such purchase.
means and includes peddling, selling or offering to sell goods, wares or merchandise of any kind from place to place, other than from a fixed place of business, in or upon any private premises, including any dwelling, house, building, or other structure designed or used, either wholly or in part for private residential purposes, whether inhabited or temporarily or continuously uninhabited or vacant, including any yard, ground, walk, driveway, porch, steps or vestibule of and to any such dwelling, house, building or other structure.
means that certificate granted by the City Council as a prerequisite to the issuance of a license, where required by the provisions of this Chapter.
shall mean any individual, receiver, administrator, executor, assignee, trustee in bankruptcy, trust, estate, firm, partnership, joint venture, club, company, joint stock company, business trust, domestic or foreign corporation, association, syndicate, society or any group of individuals acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, nonprofit or otherwise.
means and includes every restaurant, lunch room, tea room, coffee shop, soda fountain, public boarding house, hotel, club, beer parlor, cocktail lounge and every other public place where food or drinks are prepared or served, or both, to be consumed by the public either on or off the premises. "Public Eating Place" includes all places where sandwiches, lunches, or similar food are prepared for sale or gift to the public.
and/or "Purport to Conduct" shall mean and include such maintenance of the appearance of premises or such conduct or acts of the owner, occupant or manager thereof or the agents, servants, or employees of such person, as to be in a position to conduct or to create the appearance of conducting any business in the City.
means any person who in the course of, or as an incident to or part of such person's business, occupation, trade or employment goes to any house or place or from house to house or from place to place in the City offering to buy, sell, exchange, take or give an option on, lease, rent or list, or soliciting the purchase, sale, exchange, lease, rental or listing of or an option on real property, irrespective of whether such person shall be a real estate broker, real estate salesman or an unlicensed person engaged in such business, occupation, trade or employment. A person performing one (1) such act in the course of or as an incident to or part of a person's business, occupation, trade or employment shall be deemed to be a Real Estate Solicitor for the purposes of this Chapter.
means any site where a rifle, pistol, revolver or shotgun is fired at clay pigeons and/or other targets.
is defined under "Junk Collector".
is defined under "Junk Dealer".
is a person engaged in conducting, managing or carrying on the business of buying, selling or otherwise dealing in secondhand goods, wares, or merchandise, (including gold, silver, platinum or mercury, but excluding secondhand automobiles and books and such secondhand goods, wares or merchandise as are received as payment or part payment for a new article or articles sold by such person.)
shall mean any establishment where persons pay for the privilege of skateboarding.
shall mean any establishment where persons pay for the privilege of ice skating or roller skating.
is defined under "Exhibition."
means beverages for human consumption containing less than 3.2 percent of alcohol by volume.
means any person who goes from house to house or from place to place in the City selling or taking orders for, or offering to sell or take orders for any goods, wares, merchandise, or any article for future delivery, or for any service to be furnished or performed in the future, or for the making, manufacturing, treating, or repairing of any article or thing whatsoever for future delivery.
means any machine or device for the amplification of the human voice, music, or any other sound. "Sound Amplifying Equipment" shall not be construed as including standard automobile radios when used and heard only by occupants of the vehicle in which installed or warning devices on authorized emergency vehicles or horns or other warning devices on other vehicles used only for traffic safety purposes.
means that the applicant for any license to which such words are made applicable shall, before receiving the license applied for, follow the procedure set forth in Part 4 of this Chapter.
shall mean that the Finance Director is not to issue any license to which such words relate or to which the same may be made applicable unless the City Council shall have first authorized either by motion or resolution, the issuance of such license.
shall mean an affidavit sworn to before a person authorized to take oaths, or a declaration or certification made under penalty of perjury.
shall mean the Director of Finance of the City of Carson.
shall mean any vehicle used to collect and transport or deliver flammable liquids or liquefied petroleum gases in connection with or as part of any business and for which operation a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been issued by the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California.
includes a building, playhouse, room, hall or other place having a permanent stage upon which movable scenery may be located and theatrical or vaudeville or similar performances are given, having permanently affixed seats so arranged that a body of spectators can have an unobstructed view of the stage, the primary function of which is to present such performances, and in which any serving of food or beverage is clearly incidental to such performances. This definition is not intended to detract from or supersede the provisions of Section 318.5 or 318.6 of the Penal Code of the State.
means and includes mobile home parks as defined in Part 2 of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of California.
means every apparatus or device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting boxes, trays or receptacles carried by hand and also excepting any apparatus or device used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, but including bicycles.
shall mean any coin operated machine which dispenses goods, wares, merchandise, or other tangible property, and shall include weighing machines and devices for the playing of phonograph records. Vending machines shall not include pin ball machines, video, or electronic games or any other coin operated machine of skill.
shall mean and include every vehicle with wheels run, used, driven or operated for hire or otherwise, in the business of hauling, distributing, selling, receiving or delivering, within the City for resale or otherwise, personal property of any kind, nature or description; provided, however, that "wheeled vehicles," unless otherwise provided, shall not include or apply to any person having a fixed place of business within the City which has been licensed under this Chapter and who in the usual course of such business uses a wheeled vehicle or vehicles for the delivery of personal property which has been sold from said fixed place of business.
(Ord. 10-1458 § 2; Ord. 06-1342; Ord. 86-754 § 2; Ord. 79-484 § 2; Ord. 82-620 § 1; Ord. 78-444; Ord. 78-437; Ord. 77-401 § 1; Ord. 72-249 § 1; Ord. 76-377 § 1; Ord. 72-241 § 1; Ord. 72-240; Ord. 71-161)