Inter-Municipal Business Licence Scheme Bylaw No. 8475, 2024 — full text

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BY-LAW NO. 8475, 2024 A By-law to enter into an Inter-municipal Business Licence Scheme WHEREAS the City of Burnaby, the City of Delta, the City of New Westminster, the City of Richmond, the City of Surrey, and the City of Vancouver (the "Participating Municipalities") wish to permit certain categories of Businesses to operate across their jurisdictional boundaries while minimizing the need to obtain a separate municipal business licence in each jurisdiction; AND WHEREAS each of the Participating Municipalities has or will adopt a similar by-law and has or will enter into an agreement with the other Participating Municipalities to implement the inter-municipal business licence scheme; NOW THEREFORE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW WESTMINSTER, in public meeting, enacts as follows: 1. There is hereby established an inter-municipal business licence scheme among the Participating Municipalities, pursuant to section 14 of the Community Charter and section 192.1 of the Vancouver Charter. 2. In this by-law: "Business" has the meaning in the Community Charter; "Community Charter" means the Community Charter, S.B.C. 2003, c.26; "Inter-municipal Business" means any of the following businesses that provide services outside of their Principal Municipality: (a) a trades contractor or other professional related to the construction industry; (b) a contractor who performs maintenance, repair and/or inspections of land and buildings; and (c) a health care professional or a health care service provider who provides services by visiting clients in their homes; "Inter-municipal Business Licence" means a business licence which authorizes an Inter-municipal Business to be carried on within the jurisdictional boundaries of any or all of the Participating Municipalities; "Municipal Business Licence" means a licence or permit, other than an Inter-municipal Business Licence, issued by a Participating Municipality, that authorizes a Business to be carried on within the jurisdictional boundaries of that Participating Municipality; "Participating Municipality" means any one of the Participating Municipalities; "Person" has the meaning in the Interpretation Act, R S.B.C. 1996, c. 238; "Premises" means one or more fixed or permanent locations where the Person ordinarily carries on Business; "Principal Municipality" means the Participating Municipality where a Business is located or has a Premises; and "Vancouver Charter" means the Vancouver Charter, S.B.C. 1953, c.55. 3. Subject to the provisions of this by-law, the Participating Municipalities will permit a Person who has obtained an Inter-municipal Business Licence to carry on Business within any Participating Municipality for the term authorized by the Inter-municipal Business Licence without obtaining a Municipal Business Licence in the other Participating Municipalities. 4. A Principal Municipality may issue an Inter-municipal Business Licence to an applicant if the applicant is an Inter-municipal Business and meets the requirements of this by-law, in addition to the requirements of the Principal Municipality's By-law that applies to a Municipal Business Licence. 5. Notwithstanding that a Person may hold an Inter-municipal Business Licence that would make it unnecessary to obtain a Municipal Business Licence in other Participating Municipalities, the Person must still comply with all other regulations of any Municipal Business Licence By-law or regulation in addition to any other by-laws that may apply within any jurisdiction in which the Person carries on Business. 6. An Inter-municipal Business Licence must be issued by the Participating Municipality in which the applicant maintains Premises. 7. The Participating Municipalities will require that the holder of an Inter-municipal Business Licence also obtain a Municipal Business Licence for Premises that are maintained by the licence holder within the jurisdiction of the Participating Municipality. 8. The Inter-municipal Business Licence fee is $300 and is payable to the Principal Municipality. 9. The Inter-municipal Business Licence fee is separate from and in addition to any Municipal Business Licence fee that may be required by a Participating Municipality. 10. Despite the provisions of section 11, the Inter-municipal Business Licence fee will not be pro-rated. 11. The term of an Inter-municipal Business Licence is twelve (12) months, except that, at the option of a Principal Municipality, the term of the initial Inter-municipal Business Licence issued to an Inter-municipal Business in that municipality may be less than twelve (12) months in order to harmonize the expiry date of the Inter-municipal Business Licence with the expiry date of the Municipal Business Licence. 12. An Inter-municipal Business Licence will be valid within the jurisdictional boundaries of all of the Participating Municipalities until its term expires, unless the Inter-municipal Business Licence is suspended or cancelled or a Participating Municipality withdraws from the inter- municipal licensing scheme in accordance with this by-law. 13. A Participating Municipality may exercise the authority of the Principal Municipality and suspend an Inter-municipal Business Licence in relation to conduct by the holder within the Participating Municipality which would give rise to the power to suspend a business licence under the Community Charter or Vancouver Charter or under the business licence by-law of the Participating Municipality. The suspension will be in effect throughout all of the Participating Municipalities and it will be unlawful for the licence holder to carry on the Business authorized by the Inter-municipal Business Licence in any Participating Municipality for the period of the suspension. 14. A Participating Municipality may exercise the authority of the Principal Municipality and cancel an Inter-municipal Business Licence in relation to conduct by the licence holder within the Participating which would give rise to the power to cancel a business licence under the Community Charter or Vancouver Charter or under the business licence by-law of the Participating Municipality. The cancellation will be in effect throughout all of the Participating Municipalities. 15. The cancellation of an Inter-municipal Business Licence under section 14 will not affect the authority of a Participating Municipality to issue a business licence, other than an Inter- municipal Business Licence, to the holder of the cancelled Inter-municipal Business Licence. 16. Nothing in this by-law affects the authority of a Participating Municipality to suspend or cancel any business licence issued by that municipality or to enact regulations in respect of any category of Business under section 15 of the Community Charter or sections 272, 273, 279A, 279A.1, 279B, and 279C of the Vancouver Charter. 17. A Participating Municipality may, by notice in writing to each of the other Participating Municipalities, withdraw from the inter-municipal business licensing scheme and the notice must: (a) set out the date on which the withdrawing municipality will no longer recognize the validity within its boundaries of Inter-municipal Business Licences, which date must be at least six months from the date of the notice; and (b) include a certified copy of the Council resolution or bylaw authorizing the municipality's withdrawal from the Inter-municipal Business Licence scheme. 18. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this by-law shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provisions of this by-law and any such invalid or unenforceable provision shall be deemed to be severable. 19. Despite any other provision of this by-law, an Inter-municipal Business Licence granted in accordance with this By-law does not grant the holder a licence to operate in any jurisdiction other than within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Participating Municipalities. 20. A business licence granted under any other inter-municipal business licence scheme is deemed not to exist for the purposes of this by-law, even if a Participating Municipality is a participating member of the other inter-municipal business licence scheme. 21. The name of this by-law, for citation, is the "Inter-municipal Business Licence By-law". 22. Council repeals By-law No. 7610, 2013 23. A decision by a court that any part of this by-law is illegal, void, or unenforceable severs that part from this by-law, and is not to affect the balance of this by-law. 24. This by-law is to come into force and take effect on January 1, 2025. Adopted November 4, 2024