Colorado Springs proposes overhaul of business-license rules

Colorado Springs City Council is expected to take first-reading votes Sept. 8 on three proposed ordinances that would reorganize major portions of the city’s business-license code. Final votes and a public hearing are expected Sept. 22.

The measures — Ordinances 26-281, 26-282 and 26-283 — were listed for introduction at an Aug. 24 council work session. The available records do not show that they have been adopted, so the September actions remain scheduled proposals rather than completed legislation.

The Aug. 24 work-session agenda identifies 26-281 as a repeal and replacement of Chapter 2’s Article 1, 26-282 as a replacement and renumbering of Article 3, and 26-283 as a replacement of Article 4. The city’s council calendar lists regular meetings on Sept. 8 and Sept. 22, but published agendas or minutes confirming the ordinances’ placement on those dates were not available in the reporting record.

The city describes the effort as a multiyear “Chapter 2 Code Scrub” developed with the City Clerk’s Office, Finance, Risk Management, the City Attorney’s Office, the Colorado Springs Fire Department, Colorado Springs Police Department and City Forestry. Its stated goals are to modernize the code, remove obsolete provisions and create a more consistent licensing structure.

Proposed changes

Ordinance 26-281 would create a revised general business-license framework with uniform procedures for applications, renewals, inspections, denials, suspensions and revocations. It would give the City Clerk authority to administer forms, investigate licensees and inspect business records.

For licenses requiring criminal-history checks, the proposal would limit required disclosure of convictions to the previous 10 years rather than an applicant’s entire history. The draft also generally sets one-year license terms, requires businesses to retain records for the current year and three preceding calendar years, and allows late renewals to incur a 50% fee.

Ordinance 26-282 would cover businesses including massage businesses; private-security agencies and guards; escort bureaus, escorts and runners; mobile-food vendors; pawnbrokers; funeral-escort agencies and officers; pedal-cab agencies and drivers; bicycle-share businesses; and tree-service businesses.

Among the proposed changes:

• Certain massage-business owners, officers and employees who are not state-licensed massage therapists would undergo fingerprint-based state and national criminal-history checks. City materials say the requirement responds to recent state legislation.

• Private-security agencies would have to disclose camera-assisted technologies such as automated license-plate readers, drones, body cameras and fixed cameras.

• Security agencies would face proposed insurance requirements of at least $1 million for workers’ compensation and employers’ liability, $1 million in automobile liability, and $1 million per occurrence and $2 million in aggregate commercial general liability. Temporary private-security guard permits would be capped at 60 days, down from 90 days.

• Mobile-food vendors could operate in residential zones until 9 p.m., two hours later than the current 7 p.m. cutoff. They would still have to maintain pedestrian and vehicle access, stay at least 20 feet from intersections, and comply with event, zoning and health requirements.

• Pawnbrokers would no longer need to provide a bond, but would have to maintain transaction records, submit data weekly to police and hold property for specified periods.

• The limited tree-service license subtype would be eliminated. City materials say tree-service licensing could eventually be integrated into the forestry-permitting process.

The proposed Article 3 draft also includes proposed requirements for training, uniforms, vehicle identification, incident reporting, personnel changes, inspections and recordkeeping. The document provided for review is incomplete and does not contain the full pawnbroker section or final enactment provisions.

Ordinance 26-283 would rename the former Sexually Oriented Business License Code as the Adult Use Business License Code. It would apply to businesses such as adult bookstores, cabarets, theaters, motels, arcades and sexual-encounter establishments.

The proposed Article 4 would retain annual licensing, planning and fire approvals, background checks, inspections and operating rules while updating terminology to match the city’s Unified Development Code and state statutory references. The draft says the framework is intended to address alleged secondary impacts including crime, neighborhood deterioration, property-value effects and urban blight. It also says the regulations are not intended to suppress constitutionally protected speech.

Costs largely unspecified

The proposed ordinances do not include a fiscal-impact statement or a complete fee schedule. The drafts generally leave license, application, permit, registration and endorsement fees to City Council action by resolution.

Businesses could face costs for fingerprint checks, insurance, training, permits, record retention, reporting systems, equipment, vehicle or uniform changes, and compliance with operating-hour or location restrictions. The documents do not estimate insurance-premium increases, training prices, staffing costs, or the cost of required equipment and records.

The city’s current business-licensing page lists most business licenses at $110 annually and says some background checks cost an additional $7. The current massage-license page lists a $110 annual license and a $7 background-check fee. The current sexually oriented-business page lists a $500 annual license and separate manager-registration and background-check fees. Those are current fee listings, not amounts established by the proposed ordinances.

City summaries identify marijuana and liquor licensing as outside the substantive changes in the code scrub. Excavation and concrete contractor licenses also are excluded because their provisions are located in Chapter 3 under Public Works.

The city’s materials report differing counts for some affected license categories. One executive summary lists 2,590 licenses across the nine Article 3 categories, while an Aug. 24 presentation lists 3,583. The largest difference is in mobile-food licenses — 168 in the summary compared with 1,170 in the presentation. The records do not explain whether the difference reflects timing, counting methods or an error, and the figures represent licenses rather than necessarily unique businesses.

Existing licensees received draft ordinances and redlines for comment in late July and mid-August. The council’s expected September consideration will determine whether any proposed requirements take effect and whether the measures are amended before final passage.