The purpose of this chapter is to provide the
municipal officers a reasonable medium for regulation of the businesses
and purposes listed in Table 1.[1] This chapter is enacted pursuant to the constitutional
and statutory home rule power of the Town of Wells and Chapter 134
of the Private and Special Laws of Maine, 1965.
[1]
Editor's Note: Table 1 is included at the end of this chapter.
[Amended 4-28-2006]
The municipal officers of the Town of Wells
are authorized to grant licenses for the businesses and purposes specified
herein or to delegate to the Town Clerk the authority to issue such
licenses as are specified in the schedule provided in Table 1[1] hereof and to make such amendments to the schedule set
forth in Table 1 as they deem necessary after notice and hearing.
The municipal officers may specify the inspections and background
investigations that are required prior to issuance of a license. The
municipal officers are authorized to set license fees, including but
not limited to application fees, publication fees, background investigation
fees and inspection fees, after notice and hearing. All fees shall
be paid at the time the application is filed and no license shall
be issued until all fees incurred during the licensing process are
paid in full. All licensing fees are nonrefundable. A copy of the
license fee schedule shall be on file in the Town Clerk’s office.
[1]
Editor's Note: Table 1 is included at the end of this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
An establishment providing day care for five or more adults
which charges for the care of the adults, whether in a private home
or a separate establishment and whether or not licensed by the State
of Maine.
A system, including any mechanism, equipment or device, designed
to automatically transmit a signal, message or warning from a private
or public facility to any alarm answering service and shall include
telephonic alarm systems designed to operate automatically through
the use of public telephone facilities.
A business establishment providing indoor recreation in the
form of mechanical, electronic or video games without alcohol sales.
A state-licensed facility.
The public sale of property or goods to the highest bidder.
A licensed agent who conducts an auction.
A building where public auctions are held.
A yard, field or other area used to store three or more unserviceable,
discarded, worn out or junked motor vehicles as defined in 29-A M.R.S.A.
§ 101, Subsection 42, and/or 30-A M.R.S.A.§ 3752,
or parts of such vehicles, including an area used for automobile dismantling,
salvage and recycling operations. Exemption: "Automobile graveyard"
does not include an area used for temporary storage by an establishment
or place of business which is primarily engaged in doing auto body
repair work to make repairs to make the vehicle operational.
[Amended 11-7-2000]
An establishment in the business of servicing and repairing
motor vehicles.
The sales of motor vehicles.
See "financial institution."
A business of cutting and dressing hair and shaving and trimming
beards.
An establishment where haircutting, hairdressing, facials
and manicures are done.
The same as "amusement casino."
A form of commercial recreation.
A business establishment operated as a recreational site
for trailers, recreational vehicles or other forms of temporary shelter.
An establishment providing day care for five or more children
under the age of 16 which charges for the care of the children, whether
in a private home or a separate establishment and whether or not licensed
by the State of Maine.
The offering for sale of a stock of goods, wares or merchandise
under the designation of "Closing Out Sale," "Going Out of Business
Sale," "Entire Stock Must Go," "Must Sell to the Bare Walls" or any
other designation which states, directly or by implication, an intent
to dispose of the entire stock of goods to permanently terminate further
business as per state statute.
Any voluntary association of persons organized for fraternal,
social, religious, benevolent, recreational, literary, patriotic,
scientific or political purposes whose facilities are open to members
but not the general public and which is principally engaged in activities
which are not customarily carried on for monetary gain.
A business which provides an indoor or outdoor recreational
activity.
A place of business, including but not limited to a dance
studio, musical instrument instruction and martial arts class, where
classes are taught for a profit.
The solicitation or sale of goods, wares, merchandise or
services by a seller or the seller's employee's direct contact accomplished
by means of a visit or phone call to a residence without the consumer
soliciting the initial contact, including home repair services.
[Amended 11-7-2000]
Includes any amusement, performance, exhibition or diversion
for patrons or customers on licensed premises, whether provided by
professional entertainers or by full-time or part-time employees of
the licensed premises whose duties include activities with an entertainment
value.
A roadside stand not exceeding 450 square feet in floor area
selling only farm, gardening, greenhouse or nursery products, cut
Christmas trees, garland, wreaths, wreath materials and loam on the
premises.
A business where seafood products are sold.
A place of business which includes banks, credit unions,
savings and loans and financial advisors.
See "retail business."
A vehicle or cart primarily providing food and drink for
members of the public, in parking lots, outside the traveled way of
a public or private street, or on private property pursuant to a properly
approved site plan, which is not stationary but is capable of moving
from site to site. The term "food truck" does not include ice cream
trucks.
[Added 1-16-2018]
A business in which a room or rooms may be rented out to
a variety of different groups for public and private meetings, gatherings,
dances, conferences or parties.
A coin-operated entertainment device.
A game, contest, scheme or device in which a person stakes
or risks something of value for an opportunity to win something of
value and in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an
element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestant or
participant may also be a factor therein.
Games of chance such as bingo.
A business that sells motor fuels and may do automobile repairs.
A hospital, nursing home, clinic, boarding care facility
or other place for the treatment or diagnosis of human ailments, excluding
professional offices.
An accessory use of a dwelling unit for gainful employment as permitted under Chapter 145, Land Use.
To fix, replace, alter, convert, modernize, improve or make
an addition to real property. "Home repair services" includes, but
is not limited to, the construction, installation, replacement, improvement
or cleaning of driveways, swimming pools, porches, kitchens, chimneys,
chimney liners, garages, fences, fallout shelters, central air conditioning,
central heating, boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters, electric wiring,
sewers, plumbing fixtures, storm doors, storm windows, siding or awnings
or other improvements to structures within the residence or upon the
land adjacent to the residence, including tree trimming, when such
services are not solicited initially by the consumer thereof.
A vehicle, not to exceed 20 feet in length and eight feet
in width, from which the operator vends only pre-packaged frozen dairy
or frozen water-based food products, soft serve, or hand-dipped frozen
dairy products or frozen water-based food products, and pre-packaged
beverages. No trailer or other such wheeled extension may be attached
to an ice cream truck.
[Added 1-16-2018]
A person, persons, company, partnership, association or other
entity that keeps a lodging facility to provide temporary lodging
to travelers and others for compensation.
All persons, whether as principals or agents, who engage
in a temporary or transient business in Wells, whether such persons
conduct their business by traveling house to house taking pictures
in houses or operate from a hotel or motel room, store or other location,
and who solicit orders, take pictures, assist in taking pictures,
show proofs, deliver pictures and/or make collections for pictures
sold.
A person who sells junk or secondhand goods as defined in
30-A M.R.S.A. § 3901.
A yard, field or other area used to store:
Discarded, worn-out or junked plumbing, heating
supplies, household appliances and furniture;
Discarded, scrap and junk lumber;
Old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries,
paper trash, rubber debris, waste and all scrap iron, steel and other
ferrous or nonferrous material; and
Garbage dumps, waste dumps and sanitary fills
as defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3752, Subsection 4.
A commercial establishment where dogs and/or cats are kept
or boarded for a fee or where animal grooming is performed for a fee.
Any spirituous, vinous or malt beverage.
A license issued to an establishment to sell spirituous,
vinous or malt beverages for consumption on or off the licensed premises.
Any single parcel or combination of contiguous parcels that
are owned or controlled by a single entity or affiliated entities.
[Added 1-16-2018]
A building or group of buildings in which rooms are rented
or available for rent to transient guests. The term includes motels,
hotels, cabins, housekeeping cottages and housekeeping cottage complexes,
seasonal cottages and seasonal cottage complexes, bed-and-breakfasts
and inns.[1]
[Amended 11-2-2004]
A business, excluding a home business, of making goods and
articles by hand or machinery. "Manufacturing" shall include assembling,
fabricating, finishing, packaging or processing.
A business establishment having frontage on the navigable
waters within the Town which offers for sale or rent to commercial
fishermen or pleasure boat owners some or all of the following: mooring,
dock space, boats and marine equipment, showers and laundry facilities,
water, ice, diesel fuel, gasoline, oil and related products, and where
boats may be hauled, stored, repaired and/or constructed.
Any method of rubbing, kneading, tapping, vibration, compression,
percussion, application of friction or manipulation of external parts
of the human body with the hands or other parts of the body or with
the aid of any instrument or device.
Any business, including but not limited to a sole proprietorship,
in which the business operations or some portion thereof consist of
providing or making available in the Town massage for consideration
or with the expectation of receiving consideration or any gratuity,
whether or not the business has a fixed place of business within the
Town.
Any person who performs massage for consideration or a gratuity
or with the expectation of receiving consideration or any gratuity.
A group of 500 or more persons assembled together for a meeting,
social gathering or other similar purpose that can be anticipated
to exceed two hours in duration.
Any place maintained, operated or used for a group gathering
or assemblage, except an established permanent stadium, athletic field,
arena, auditorium, coliseum, fairground or other similar permanent
place of assembly that has sufficiently existing sanitary facilities
to handle the expected gathering.
The Board of Selectmen of the Town of Wells, Maine.
An institution operated primarily for the purpose of preserving
and exhibiting objects of historical, cultural, scientific or artistic
interest which may also be engaged in incidental retail sales of items
related to the principal purpose.
[Amended 11-7-2000]
A store with floor area intended to service a residential
neighborhood's convenience needs, such as basic foods, newspapers,
beverages and paper goods, with or without petroleum products.
To exhibit, sponsor, hold, promote or operate any pageant,
amusement, show or theatrical performance, including a music festival,
or exhibition in which the anticipated attendance will exceed 1,000
people and where a substantial portion of the people attending will
be out of doors.
A person or persons who engage in the practice of reading
a person's character or future from the markings on the palms.
One who loans money and takes goods as collateral.
A place of business of doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects,
engineers, surveyors, real estate and insurance agents, auctioneers,
psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, therapists and the like
or a place in which a business conducts its administrative and clerical
operations.
Persons, corporations or businesses who or which engage in
the business of offering public transportation over a fixed route
within the Town of Wells on a regular basis for a fee.
A person, firm or corporation who or which receives bottles,
cans, rags and the like for the purpose of recycling with only brief
storage of the recycled product.
An establishment where food and drink are prepared and served
to the public.
A business establishment engaged in the sale of goods and
services to the ultimate consumer for direct use or consumption.
A one-story building containing a single unit made up of
a room or group of rooms containing facilities for eating, sleeping,
bathing and cooking and that is not occupied and to which water service
is turned off between November 1 and April 30.
[Added 11-2-2004]
A business consisting of one or more seasonal cottages.
All seasonal cottage units in a seasonal cottage complex shall be
available to the traveling public, but may be occupied by a single
individual or group for a time period of up to six months.
[Added 11-2-2004]
Any person, firm or corporation who or which accumulates,
collects, stores, transports or disposes of more than two tons per
month of acceptable or unacceptable waste generated within the Town
who must first obtain a license from the municipal officers.
The exterior sale of goods associated with a retail business
where the sales occur in or under a tent, tarp or similar temporary
structure.
A fully enclosed building used for display or presentation
to the public of films, plays or other kinds of performances.
The Town of Wells, Maine.
A use which provides for the interface between different
modes of transportation. It may include a terminal building, housing,
retail space, service, office, restaurant and other such accessory
uses.
A person or persons who serve food or drink prepared for
consumption on the premises by the public.
A structure used primarily for the storage of articles, goods
or materials.
A business establishment engaged in the bulk sale of goods
or materials not manufactured or processed on the premises.
An activity held within a structure or open area where personal
goods are offered for sale to the general public, including so-called
garage sales, porch sales, tag sales and the like, but not including
tent sales.
[1]
Editor’s Note: The former definition of “lunch
wagon,” which immediately followed this definition, was repealed
1-16-2018.
No person, corporation, partnership, association,
unincorporated association or other entity shall operate or conduct
any trade, profession, business or privilege listed in Table 1 without
first obtaining all required licenses or permits therefor.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Table 1 is included at the end of this chapter.
All licenses shall expire on the first day of
May of each year, unless otherwise provided, and no proration shall
be allowed for any part-time license. If an application for renewal
of a license is filed prior to the expiration date, the licensed activity
may be continued, pending a decision of the licensing authority to
grant or deny a new license, provided that the licensee and licensed
business are otherwise in compliance with this chapter.
[Amended 11-7-2000]
A business engaging in more than one of the
activities listed in Table 1 shall be required to secure and pay for
a license in each of the activities in which it is engaged.
As agent of the municipal officers, the Town
Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to receive all applications
required by this chapter and to act thereon with reasonable promptness
consistent with the nature of the matter, either by issuing the license
or permit as applied for, subject to limitations on his/her authority
as contained herein, or by denying the same and so notifying the applicant
personally or in writing, addressed to his address as shown in the
application, such notice to state the reason for such denial, or by
referring the license application to the Board of Selectmen, if the
Board of Selectmen is the issuing authority specified in Table 1.
The Selectmen may issue or deny such licenses, following a public
hearing, provided that the applicant shall be notified, in writing,
of the denial and the reason for the denial. The Selectmen may impose
such reasonable restrictions and/or conditions as they deem in the
best interest of the community.
[Amended 11-7-2000]
A.
Applications for the various licenses set forth in
Table 1 hereof shall be made on forms provided by the Town Clerk and
shall contain such information as may be required by the municipal
officers, including but not limited to the following:
(1)
Name and address of the applicant.
(2)
Description and location of the premises.
(3)
Name and address of the principal person in charge
of the business.
(4)
Names and addresses of officers and directors of a
corporation or members of an association or partnership, if the applicant
is a corporation, an association or a partnership.
(5)
Brief description of the activity or activities proposed.
B.
On applications for a new license (including new activities on a site where licensed activities already occur) the zone district shall be specified. The Code Enforcement Officer shall confirm that the proposed activity and the structures or land used for the activity conform to the requirements of Chapter 145, Land Use, of this Code before a license may be issued.
A.
Any license issued under this chapter may be suspended
or revoked by the municipal officers after hearing when it has been
made to appear to the municipal officers that:
(1)
There has been a violation of the terms of this chapter
or any other local ordinance or state or federal law or regulation
then in force or any conditions of approval attached to the license.
(2)
The licensee or any of the officers or managing employees
of the firm, corporation or association have been convicted of a felony
or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.
B.
In the event of an appeal from a conviction of a felony
or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude and suspension or revocation
of the license by the municipal officers, the suspension or revocation
shall continue to be in effect until a final decision has been rendered
by the court.
A.
Any person, corporation, partnership or association
who or which operates or conducts any trade, profession, business
or privilege for which a license is required under this chapter without
first obtaining such license or who or which fails to comply with
the requirements of this chapter and/or any conditions imposed by
the license shall be punished by a civil penalty of not more than
$100 or such other penalty as may be specified for specific violations
elsewhere in this chapter. Such person, firm or corporation shall
also be liable for court costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred
by the Town. All such penalties shall be recovered on complaint for
the use of the Town and shall be placed in the Town treasury. Each
day the violation continues after the Town gives notice thereof constitutes
a separation violation.
B.
When a violation of any provision of this chapter shall be found, the appropriate municipal official shall send a written notice of the violation to the responsible party or parties and shall also notify the Town Manager of the violation. If the notice does not result in the correction of the violation, the Board of Selectmen is directed to institute any and all actions and proceedings, either legal or equitable, including seeking injunctions of violations and the imposing of civil penalties, that may be appropriate or necessary to enforce the provisions of this chapter in the name of the municipality and in addition may revoke or suspend the license in accordance with § 150-9.
This chapter shall take effect upon enactment
by the Town Meeting and shall apply to all licenses issued after January
1 of the following year.
This chapter repeals and replaces the former Chapter 149, Licenses, of the Wells Municipal Code and repeals Chapter 52, Article II (Mass Gathering), Chapter 55 (Amusements), Chapter 58 (Alarm Systems), Chapter 98 (Massage Establishments), Chapter 128 (Solid Waste), Chapter 132 (Vendors, Itinerant), Chapter 147 (Junkyards) and Chapter 160 (Public Transportation) of the Wells Municipal Code.
