Phoenix to consider business license change

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PHOENIX — Council members Monday will deliberate on a set of ordinance changes that could put the kibosh on noisy neighbors, burn barrels and nonresident business owners working inside city limits.

City Manager Jane Turner, hired earlier this year to get the city's budget and day-to-day operations on track, said the city is revising decades-old ordinances to help it run as smoothly as possible.

At the top of Monday's list is a proposal to require out-of-town business owners, such as landscapers or photographers, to attain a business license to work in Phoenix. A business license costs around $60.

Turner said language, at the Council's request, was added to allow business owners to take on occasional jobs without obtaining a license.

"If you do work in town one time only, like if somebody calls someone to come in for a one-time job, you won't need one," Turner said. "But if you're here year-round doing work on a regular basis, then we'll require you to have one."

Similar to a tack taken by other cities, including a controversial move by Medford last year, the city's approach would be open to reasonable interpretation, Turner said.

Last year, Medford officials sent letters to out-of-town business owners demanding a business license be obtained.

Turner said her city's law would be mostly "honor-system" based.

"It's very difficult to patrol this kind of thing so most of it's on the honor system," she said.

A "nuisance-and-noise" ordinance, aimed at tightening laws about noise from special events, construction and excavation work, was prompted by a request from Peterbuilt Trucking to use a cannon to control a problem with pigeons.

The discussion may remind residents of a problem a decade ago when a local pig farmer repeatedly fired a cannon to deal with rodents in pig troughs. Turner said the Council had not yet discussed the matter in detail.

Council members also will discuss a ban on open burning, a continuation of a discussion started in February.

The matter was discussed with local Department of Environmental Quality officials in January, though the City Council's stance toward the topic was lukewarm.

If approved this time, Turner said the city would likely opt for an ordinance similar to one adopted by Talent last year, because both cities receive fire protection from Fire District 5, which would administer the new law.

Also Monday, the Council will consider amending regulations dealing with the public right-of-way, which could bring changes for business owners, residents and utility companies, depending on details of the new law.

Councilman Mike Stitt said Monday's meeting will certainly spur a range of discussion and likely some varying opinions.

Stitt, who was re-elected Nov. 4, said he hoped the city would administer the business license ordinance with "lots of common sense." He said he was unsure how he felt about a ban on open burning.

"That one's a hot potato. I haven't read the new drafting, but I'm sure there will be some discussion," said Stitt.

"My leanings are to let people do what they want if the air index is good, and I'm always one to side against having a law just to have a law."

He added, "I have a hard time telling folks you can't burn leaves but you can burn gas to drive those same leaves to the dump "¦ Then I look up in the hills and the Forest Service is slash burning. Not to mention, would we rather have burning or let the leaves end up in the storm drains?"

Stitt said council members had plenty of weekend reading to do with a larger-than-usual council agenda packet.

"I got my packet and thought, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to read 'War and Peace' this weekend.' It's huge."

Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at buffypollock@juno.com.

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