[Added 6-13-2005 by Ord.
No. 05-28]
It is not intended by this chapter to repeal, abrogate, annul
or in any way impair or interfere with existing provisions of other
ordinances except those specifically repealed. Where this chapter
imposes a greater restriction or license fee upon persons, premises
or personal property than is imposed or required by such existing
provisions of other ordinances, the provisions of this chapter shall
control. Where an existing provision of another ordinance imposes
a greater restriction or license fee upon persons, premises or personal
property than is imposed or required by this chapter, the provisions
of the other ordinance shall control.
A.
Word usage. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include
the singular number, and words in the singular number include the
plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely
directory.
B.
BOROUGH
BUSINESS
INSIGNIA OR INSIGNE
LICENSE OR LICENSEE
MAYOR AND COUNCIL
PERSON
PREMISES
VIRTUAL OFFICE
Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms,
phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given
herein:
The Borough of Paramus.
Includes all kinds of vocations, occupations, commercial
enterprises and establishments and all other kinds of commercial activities,
together with all devices, machines, vehicles and appurtenances used
therein, any of which are conducted for private profit or benefit,
either directly or indirectly, on any premises of the Borough or anywhere
else within its jurisdiction. A person who is licensed by the State
of new Jersey is exempt from the requirement to obtain a business
permit to the extent the person would otherwise need a business permit
in his or her own name. A company that is so licensed is exempt from
the requirement to obtain a business permit. A company that is not
licensed by the State of New Jersey, but which has employees or professionals
that are so licensed, is not exempt from the requirement to obtain
a business permit. This definition is intended to be consistent with
the exemptions set forth in N.J.S.A. 40:52-1 and this definition shall
be construed consistent with those exemptions.
[Amended 6-27-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-17]
Any tag, plate, badge, emblem, sticker or any other kind
of device which may be required for any use in connection with any
license fee.
As used generally herein, includes respectively the words
"permit" or "permitter" or the holder for any use or period of time
of any similar privilege wherever relevant to any provision of this
chapter or other ordinances.
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Paramus.
Includes individual natural persons, partnerships, joint
ventures or corporations, or any officers, agents, employees, factors
or any kind of personal representatives of any thereof in any capacity
acting either for himself or for any other person under either personal
appointment or pursuant to law.
Includes all the structures, places and also the equipment
and appurtenances connected or used therewith in any business, and
also any personal property which is either affixed to or is otherwise
used in connection with any such business conducted on such premises.
The operational domain of any business or organization whose
workforce includes a significant proportion of workers using technology
to perform work away from the domain of the address(es) of the business
or organization. "Significant" means where the good or service provided
by the business or organization is primarily provided from somewhere
other than the domain of the address(es) of the business or organization;
a virtual or electronic connection to the address(es) is not sufficient
for provision of the goods or services to be physically from the address(es).
[Added 6-12-2018 by Ord.
No. 18-09]
It shall be unlawful for any person, either directly or indirectly,
to conduct or carry on a business or to use in connection therewith
any vehicle, premises, machine or device, in whole or in part, for
which a license is required by any ordinance of this Borough without
a license having first been procured therefor and kept in effect at
all such times as required by this chapter or other ordinance of this
Borough heretofore or hereafter adopted. It shall also be unlawful
for any person, either directly or indirectly, to conduct or carry
on a business in this Borough in a manner differing from any description
of the business operation contained in the previously submitted license
application or not consistent with the certification contained on
the application for said business license.
Application for license hereunder, both new and renewal, shall
be made to the Borough Clerk. A change in the nature of the business
conducted from description of the business operation contained in
the previously submitted license application shall trigger the requirement
of an application for a new license.
After receiving the application, the Borough Clerk shall present
the same to the Mayor and Council for consideration at the next succeeding
meeting. Upon approval of the application by the Mayor and Council,
the license shall be issued by the Borough Clerk.
A.
License fees shall become payable to the Borough Clerk on or before
the 15th day of July in each year, and all such licenses shall expire
on the 14th day of July of the following year. The license fee for
all such businesses shall be payable in full, without proration, for
all or any part of each year. Upon payment of the required fee, the
Borough Clerk shall issue a decal which shall be displayed at the
entrance to the licensed premises. It shall be the responsibility
of both lessees and lessors to ensure that each business obtains and
display a current license.
[Amended 3-22-2011 by Ord. No. 11-08]
B.
All businesses, except those specifically enumerated below, shall
pay a basic annual license fee of $100.
(1)
In addition to the basic license fee of $100, all retail operations,
entertainment and recreational uses and food establishments which
exceed 500 square feet in floor area devoted to customer use shall
pay an additional license fee of $0.06 for each square foot or part
thereof in excess of 500 square feet which is devoted to customer
use, up to a total floor area of 40,000 square feet.
(2)
In addition to the basic one-hundred-dollar license fee, and the fee enumerated in Subsection B(1), all retail operations, entertainment and recreational uses and food establishments which exceed 40,000 square feet in floor area devoted to customer use shall pay an additional license fee of $0.01 for each square foot or part thereof in excess of 40,000 square feet which is devoted to customer use.
(3)
Areas devoted to customer use shall include, but not be limited to,
sales floor space, display areas, checkout areas, seating and waiting
areas and activity participation areas.
C.
Those businesses enumerated below shall pay in accordance with the
fee specified herein:
(1)
Antique furniture: the business of dealing in antique furniture or
other articles of any antique nature not classified as secondhand
articles. The license fee for dealers in antique furniture shall be
$100.
(2)
Auctioneer: the business of selling, by auction, goods, chattels,
wares, merchandise, real estate and other articles not prohibited
by law. This subsection shall not apply to a single auction sale held
on the premises of a resident or property owner of the Borough, which
sale is held for the purpose of liquidating a specific personal estate
or a specific piece of real estate or a specific business, farm or
farmland.
(3)
Laundries: the business of maintaining, conducting and operating
a steam laundry or hand laundry. This license shall be issued only
on compliance with health rules and regulations promulgated by the
Board of Health. The license fee for laundries shall be $200.
(4)
Warehouse/distribution centers: $250.
(5)
Automobile driving school: $350.
(6)
Automotive repair shop: $335.
(7)
Barbershops, beauty parlors, nail salons: $100.
(8)
Gyms and health clubs: $800.
(9)
Parking lot and/or storage of motor vehicles: the business of parking
or storing motor vehicles for a fee. Businesses operating a parking
service or storage of motor vehicles for a fee shall pay a business
license fee based upon the average number of motor vehicles parked
or stored by the business per day, calculated across a thirty-day
period to be chosen by the enforcing authority. A motor vehicle stored
for multiple days shall be counted each day towards the daily total.
Businesses involved in the parking or storing of motor vehicles for
a fee include, but are not limited to:
(a)
Valet parking, whether or not the business is the owner of the
space used to store the motor vehicle. Where the number of vehicles
parked by a valet parking service cannot be determined by the enforcing
authority, the business shall pay a flat license fee of $500.
(b)
Parking or storage service offered by an automotive repair shop.
This subsection does not relieve such a business from the license
fee imposed by this section on automobile repair shops.
(c)
The fee for businesses operating a parking service or storage
of motor vehicles for a fee shall be calculated according to the following
schedule:
|
Number of Vehicles, Inclusive
|
Fee
|
|---|---|
|
1 to 10
|
$50
|
|
11 to 15
|
$145
|
|
16 to 20
|
$195
|
|
21 to 45
|
$340
|
|
46 to 70
|
$670
|
|
71 to 99
|
$950
|
|
100 or more
|
$975
|
(d)
Exception for towers and wreckers: in recognition of the fact that official towers of the Borough are required to provide parking for disabled vehicles, parking facilities provided pursuant to § 401-6 E of the Code of the Borough of Paramus by towers and wreckers licensed under Chapter 401 of this Code shall be exempt from the fee imposed by this section.
(11)
The landlord of a property, building, or premises that contains
a virtual office shall pay $100 per virtual office unless the virtual
office obtains and pays for the license directly. The physical partitioning
of a property, building, or premises shall not determine how many
licensing fees a landlord is subject to for virtual office space.
A landlord is subject to a separate licensing fee for every virtual
office at its property, building, or premises that is associated with
a distinct business or organization from any other virtual office
at the property, building, or premises.
[Added 6-12-2018 by Ord.
No. 18-09; amended 9-14-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-38]
(12)
Arborators: $25 per truck operating in the Borough.
[Added 9-14-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-38]
D.
Review of fee schedule: the schedule of fees imposed by this section
shall be reviewed by the Mayor and Council every two years following
enactment of this article, and not before.
The license issued for the specific activity shall apply only
to the location disclosed in the application. All licenses issued
under this article shall expire on July 14 of the year following issuance.
Any license granted under this article shall be conspicuously
displayed in a prominent place at the place of business of the licensee.
Said license shall not be transferable to another person.
In addition to the penalty prescribed in § 191-23, the Mayor and Council may, after notice and hearing, revoke any license granted under this article if any provision of this article is violated or if the licensed place or premises is so operated as to constitute a nuisance.
A.
Acts considered conduct of business:
(1)
For the purpose of this chapter, a person conducting a business shall
become subject to the requirements of this chapter when such person
does one act of:
(2)
Canvassers, solicitors, hawkers, peddlers, transient merchants and
itinerant vendors, as defined in the ordinances of the Borough of
Paramus, shall, however, be governed by provisions of the ordinances
heretofore adopted by the Borough of Paramus providing for the regulating
and licensing of such business activities.
(3)
Opening a virtual office or being the landlord of a property, building,
or premises that has at least one virtual office.
[Added 6-12-2018 by Ord.
No. 18-09]
B.
Agents responsible for compliance. The agents or other representatives
of nonresidents who are doing business in this Borough shall be personally
responsible for the compliance of their principals and of the businesses
they represent under this chapter.
[Amended 6-12-2018 by Ord. No. 18-09]
(1)
A landlord of a property, building, or premises with a virtual office
is responsible for the licensing of the virtual office unless the
virtual office obtains and pays for the license directly.
C.
No license required for mere delivery. No license shall be required
of any person for any mere delivery in the Borough of any property
purchased or acquired in good faith from such person at his regular
place of business outside the Borough where no intent by such person
is shown to exist to evade the provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 3-14-2006 by Ord. No. 06-2; 3-22-2011 by Ord. No. 11-08; 6-12-2018 by Ord. No. 18-09]
A.
Enforcing authority. If necessary to enforce the provisions of this
article, the Mayor and Council may appoint a person or persons whose
responsibility it shall be to enforce the provisions of this article.
B.
Violations. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter
shall, upon conviction, be subject to a penalty of not less than $200
nor more than $2,000. A separate offense shall be deemed committed
on each day during which a violation occurs or continues.
(1)
A landlord of a property, building, or premises with a virtual office
shall be subject to this violation and penalty where the Borough is
unable to serve the virtual office with a citation or, if served,
the virtual office fails to pay the citation, either voluntarily or
after a conviction. Each unlicensed virtual office within a property,
building, or premises shall be a separate offense.
