Walnut Grove council discusses requiring set business hours for city licenses

Walnut Grove — Council members discussed a proposed ordinance that would require businesses to post regular operating hours and, unless approved otherwise, be open at least four days per week. The proposal would tie compliance to business-license processes and allow denial, suspension or revocation of a license after a 10-business-day cure period.

Council members said the intent is to reduce vacant or intermittently open storefronts and improve downtown continuity as new commercial development arrives. “If you’re open in a business here, we expect you to be open and not just be open on certain days,” a council member said during the meeting.

The ordinance language discussed would not set a single set of hours (for example, it would allow “by appointment only” businesses) but would require applicants to state hours on their license application. Council and staff repeatedly raised enforcement questions: what constitutes noncompliance, how expiration or suspension would affect buildings that the owner also occupies, and whether the city has authority to compel private property owners to operate a business. Staff pointed to the enforcement language in the draft that would permit revocation of a license after a 10-business-day compliance period, but council members said that may be difficult to apply in practice.

Rather than moving the ordinance directly to the council agenda, members asked city administration to draft a nonbinding agreement or clear business-license application language that sets expectations and can be attached to licenses. One council member suggested framing the measure as a policy or standard operating procedure that would be enforced through existing business-license renewal and enforcement processes rather than as an immediately enforceable ordinance.

City Administrator Joe (as referenced in the meeting) agreed to rework the language and return a recommended approach for council consideration. The item will not be placed on the next council meeting agenda; staff will prepare a draft policy and proposed application language for future consideration.

For now, council direction is procedural: staff will produce a proposed business-license condition or applicant agreement that clarifies expected posted hours (including the notion of “not less than four days per week unless otherwise approved by the city”) and identifies how code enforcement would respond to complaints.

The council did not vote on an ordinance at this meeting; members instructed staff to research options and prepare a recommended administrative approach.