MUNICIPAL BUSINESS LICENSE AND ZONING REQUIREMENTS

By: George K. Bryce
BCACC's legal counsel
Published in Vol. 9:1 of Insights (March 1997)

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide members of the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors with basic information about municipal business license and zoning requirements that can have a significant impact on their counselling practices. This article will be of particular interest to counsellors who are working as sole practitioners or in partnerships.

There are many municipal and regional authorities throughout BC and each will have unique bylaws requirements. Therefore, the information presented in this article is general in nature. A check list is provided at the end to help you navigate the licensing and zoning requirements in your particular area of the province. As will be discussed later, if you are currently practicing without a business license, you should contact your municipal licensing or zoning offices.

Municipalities require businesses to be licensed so that the local government can ensure that business practices comply with municipal zoning requirements. This helps the municipality to ensure various public protection measures are in place, such as fire exits. But it also helps to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of businesses in any particular zone. Business licenses allow the municipality to monitor trends in commercial and residential development within their jurisdiction and compare those trends to what is happening in other municipalities. While a fee is charged for these licenses, it is not a major source of revenue for the municipalities compared to other sources.

Before you hang out your shingle as a clinical counsellor, it is more than likely that you will have to obtain a business license from the municipality where you intend to practice. A business license is a legal requirement to practice clinical counselling or psycho-therapy in most if not all BC municipalities.

Failure to obtain and maintain a business license can result in the municipality seeking a court order to shut down your counselling office and you may have to pay the municipality's court costs. You also could be charged with an offence under the applicable municipal legislation. Some municipalities will issue tickets, the cost of which can add up as non-compliance each day will constitute a separate offence.

Business licenses are granted to individuals (or corporations) for a specific business location or office. Therefore, before a business license will be issued to you, the municipality will ascertain if the zoning for the particular office you are interested in would allow anyone to carry out a counselling practice from that location. Therefore, the zoning requirements for the area of the office where you want to practice is a critical element in the municipality's decision to grant you a business license.

Some municipalities significantly restrict the sort of business activities that someone can undertake from their home. If you live in a residential district in Vancouver and New Westminster, for example, you cannot have clients come into your home or put up signs outside your homes to advertise your counselling services. But, if you use your home offices simply as a place to receive phone calls and store client records, and you see clients outside your home, that would be permitted.

On the other hand, municipalities like Burnaby and Richmond have a more relaxed approach to home based counselling services. In these jurisdictions, you should be able to obtain a license to practice from your home, as long as the integrity of your residential neighbourhood is not adversely affected. Therefore, if you have a busy practice that generates excessive pedestrian or vehicle traffic in your neighbourhood, it is possible that you would have to then move your practice to a commercial zone.

Other important constrains on home based businesses in these municipalities is that counsellors cannot employ staff or operate a group practice with other counsellors who live outside the home.

Most BC municipalities permit counselling services to be provided in offices that are located in zones that have been designated as "commercial". In most cases, therefore, you can obtain a business license to provide counselling services from an office that is located in a commercial zone. (However, as specific zoning criteria will vary according to the municipality, it may be that you will be able to establish a counselling office in other types of zones.)

The first question that you should ask yourself is: Can I provide clinical counselling services from this particular office? To answer this question, you should contact the local business license department or zoning office. The municipal staff can tell you whether or not the office your are interested in is located in a zone that permits counselling services (i.e. if it is located in a "commercial" zone).

If the office is located in an acceptable zone, you will then have to determine if the office itself complies with the building standards that have been established for offices in that zone. In other words, the question you now need to answer is: What changes (if any) do I have to make to this office to ensure that it will comply with the standards set for this use?

Many municipalities require that there be "off street" parking for what are commonly described as health care offices. For example, there may have to be one parking stall for every 300 or so square feet of office space. If there is not sufficient parking space associated with the office in question, that office could not be used for clinical counselling services and, therefore, the municipality would not grant the counsellor a business license to practice from that location.

There may be other terms and conditions contained in the standards for the particular zone which can influence significantly whether the particular office can be used for clinical counselling. These other terms include things like:

• direct access to the counselling office (i.e. access through another business may not be permitted);
• separate fire exits, smoke detectors and fire exit signs;
• public washrooms;
• maximum size for signs on the building.

Unless a counselling or similar health care business was operated from the desired office before, it is likely that inspections of the office or building may have to be done by the municipality's building or health inspectors, as well as the local Fire Department and perhaps also the police. In most instances, such inspections will be an automatic part of the license application review process.

I am aware of a number of situations where counsellors (and other health care professionals, for that matter) have found a "wonderful" office for their practice and promptly signed the lease or purchase agreement. Later, they found out that the municipality will not allow them to practice from that location. Sometimes they could practice from their new office, but only if the building was significantly upgraded.

Before you sign an office lease or purchase agreement, it would be prudent for you to check with the municipality to determine if you would be permitted to practice clinical counselling from that location. Next, you should ensure that the office you want complies with the applicable zoning standards (e.g. parking, fire exits, etc.). If you do not check these things out before you sign on the dotted line, you could be stuck with an office you cannot use or the costs of upgrading the office so that it would comply.

If there is some urgency in securing the particular office that you are interested in, you should ensure that the lease or purchase agreement contains a provision that says the agreement will be binding only if you will can obtain a municipal business licenses for that office. (A lawyer can help to ensure that this subject suits your particular needs.)

If you are taking over an existing counselling practice, it may be possible for you to apply to transfer the existing business license to your name. But, before you sign the contract to purchase that practice, you should confirm that the seller holds a current and valid business license to practice from that office and the licensed can be transferred to you. Alternatively, you might want to make the successful transfer or securing of a business license a subject in your agreement.

You or your agent can get the details you need, in particular details about zoning restrictions and required inspections, by contacting the business license or zoning department of the applicable municipality. You can get this information by attending the municipal office in person or by phone.

If you are simply seeking general information, you or your agent do not have to disclose your name. But, when you eventually fill out the business license application form, you will have to make full disclosure.

You also would have to give a street address for the office you want, but that disclosure will be for the purposes of checking the zoning restrictions in advance; it would not yet be part of the formal business license application. You may yet decide to secure a different office.

If you are currently providing clinical counselling services without a business license, you should get one as soon as possible. (At the least, you should confirm to your satisfaction that your municipality does not require you to have a business license to practice counselling from your current office. It would be best to get that in writing from the municipality.) However, you should be aware that, if your application is rejected, you may have to vacate your current office.

You should also prepared to have to upgrade your current office if, after processing your application, the municipality determines that certain building improvements have to be completed before you could continue to provide counselling services from that location.

If you are concerned that you might be prosecuted by the municipality after you apply, it would be best if you spoke to a lawyer before submitting your application. For the most part, however, the municipal officials will work cooperatively with people who come forward in an attempt to comply with the municipal bylaws.

The business license or zoning office of your municipality will be listed in your telephone directory. Some municipal offices are listed in the "blue pages" at the back of the directory.

The following is a check-list of questions a clinical counsellor may want to consider before applying for a business license or signing an office lease or purchase agreement.

• What is the street address of the office which you want to use?
• What is the current municipal zone designation for that location? And can you practice clinical counselling from an office in that zone?

If the zoning permits someone to practice clinical counselling from that office, then the following should be asked:

• Will the office space have to be inspected by a building or a health inspector? The police? The fire department? Other officials?
• Will you have to upgrade the office or make other arrangements before you could practice so that it would comply with the applicable zoning requirements, as well as health, maintenance and construction bylaws? What permits do you require to make any such changes? What will be the total costs of any improvements? How long will it take to complete them?
• Will you have to get an approval from the municipality to change the current approved use of that office space? How long will that take? And how much might it cost to obtain?

This check-list is not exhaustive and may not cover all the issues that may be relevant in your particular circumstances. Specific legal concerns should be addressed by your lawyer.

Starting and maintaining any business can be stressful. But knowing more about municipal business license and zoning requirements should help to keep things in perspective. Hopefully this article will help you steer through the requirements in your area of the province.