CRESTVIEW — A local business owner questions whether city codes are clear and evenly enforced after learning that his store violated an ordinance.
The incident raises a larger question about how well city codes match local businesses' needs, he says.
Crestview Motorsports co-owner Craig Shaw received a code violation notification after he displayed some vehicles across the street from his showroom.
Allen Flanagan, his partner and store manager, said the store’s location — up the block from South Ferdon Boulevard — is hard to spot, and placing a sign close to Ferdon, also the state highway, would be too expensive.
That's why they displayed some of the vehicles across Williams Street.
The city’s ordinance states “a separate license shall be required for each place” where a company does business, but Shaw said he believes the ordinance isn’t clear.
“As literal as it's written, you can't do business at any location but the address on your business license,” Shaw said. “If you're going to enforce it, enforce it evenly.”
For example, he said, “what about an insurance agent who writes a policy sitting at your kitchen table?”
REWRITING IN THE WORKS
Crestview Code Enforcement Officer Senida Oglesby said city ordinances do cover a range of situations.
“Let’s say you’re an air conditioning repair business,” Oglesby said. “You would need a business tax receipt for your office location only. But the code does not require a business tax receipt for each home where you go repair the equipment. It’s for the office location only.”
Shaw’s company violated the ordinance by using a lot where it wasn’t licensed to do business, according to the code’s phrasing.
“If you take the merchandise to an offsite parcel, you need to get a business tax receipt for that site,” Oglesby said, noting a camper dealership not far from Shaw’s company must have five licenses to cover all of its sales lots.
Obtaining a tax receipt is the first step in conducting business in Crestview, Oglesby said.
“The city would (consider) the zoning and parking requirements” among other criteria, Oglesby said. “If the parcel doesn’t meet the requirements, the owner can’t conduct business there.”
Shaw said he now realizes that using the lot at the corner of Williams and South Ferdon Boulevard to display off-road vehicles involves more than just getting the lot owner’s permission.
But that still doesn’t address the ordinance’s perceived vagueness, he said.
City officials are aware of the code’s deficiencies, Mayor David Cadle said, noting he frequently receives calls from business owners with concerns about codes and enforcement.
The Growth Management Department is evaluating the code, Cadle said.
“City officials are addressing the ordinance and rewriting the ordinance so it’s not so broad,” he said. “When it’s ready, it’ll come back before the (city) council.”
'NOT BUSINESS FRIENDLY'
Business has evolved a lot since Craig Shaw's father, Foy, a founding Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce member, started Shaw Moving and Storage in the 1940s.
“It (the code) just doesn’t fit today’s business model. To me it seems old. Everybody is digital. People work all over, not just in their office or shop,” Shaw said. “They’re mobile. I should be able to be licensed and then to do business anywhere in the city.”
The broadly phrased code makes it easy to unintentionally violate, She said.
“If I'm mobile or I'm bringing a demo unit to your location, I'm in violation of the code,” he said.
As a leader in the business community, Shaw says he regularly hears from out-of-town business owners who believe it’s hard to open shop in Crestview, and ordinances like the one his company allegedly violated are among the reasons for the perception.
“City officials don’t understand when people come in and say, ‘You’re not business friendly,’” Shaw said. “You have things like this and it creates a perception that Crestview’s not business friendly.”
The status quo doesn't have to remain, City Council President Shannon Hayes said, adding he welcomes Shaw's and other citizens' input about local ordinances.
“One of our duties is, if we think there's a change that needs to be made for the betterment of our citizens, we need to do it,” he said.
“We're here to serve the citizens, and if we think it's for the betterment of the city, we as a group of council members can look into changing an ordinance.”
While the code is being addressed, Oglesby said she will continue helping businesses comply with existing laws.
“Our job is to educate citizens and business owners, let them know that they’re in violation and provide them with the code or Florida statute that covers that,” she said.
Section 18-29 of Crestview's Code of Ordinances, which governs business locations, states: “Any person desiring to engage in any exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation or profession for which a license is required shall designate in the application for license the place where the exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation, calling or profession is located.
"A separate license shall be required for each place at which any exhibition, trade, business, vocation, occupation, calling or profession is carried on."
BUSINESS TAX RECEIPTS
Obtaining a business tax receipt is the first step to conduct business in Crestview, Code Enforcement Officer Senida Oglesby says. The Planning and Zoning, Building, and Crestview Fire departments review the application.
An application can be rejected for several reasons, but the most common is a business that wants to open in a section with conflicting zoning. “The city would (consider) the zoning and parking requirements,” among other criteria, Oglesby said.
Sometimes, a business’ supplemental address doesn’t meet code requirements. “If the parcel doesn’t meet the requirements, they can’t conduct business there,” Oglesby said. “You don’t want people parking out in the streets, and you don’t want people crossing the street to get to the office.”
THE ORDINANCE SAYS…
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Do Crestview's business codes deter growth?
