SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
HellBent Custom Motorcycles of San Juan Bautista is currently operating without a business license. Owner Ray Shott has the application and receipt from his application fees, but no permit.
In what he called “a misunderstanding of protocol, City Planner Matthew Sundt said the San Juan cannot evict Shott without following a “process to due diligence.”
“Technically, he shouldn’t be there, but we have to go through this process,” said Sundt. The process Sundt is referring to is Shott’s appeals to obtain a conditional use permit in order to run his store.
Shott said that the city has sent him neither his license nor official notice of denial. The city council will decide whether to allow HellBent Motorcycles a conditional use permit at their meeting on Nov. 18.
“Thirty days is common practice for a denial,” said Shott. “After 31 days, I’m established. If they say (the business license) was never issued, then they are in trouble.”
HellBent has been cleared by the city to continue operation of its business by the city, according to Paetz, until the city council decides whether to issue Shott a conditional use permit to operate his business in a mixed-use zone. Shott must apply for a conditional use permit because he is operating in a mixed-use zone rather than an industrial zone.
City Attorney George Thacher said if the council decides against the appeal and decides to continue operation, only then legal action will be taken.
“We are not going to do enforcement until after the city has decided,” he said.
There also has been some talk about Shott’s application missing from city hall. Acting City Clerk Trish Paetz acknowledged that the city is currently in the possession of that application for HellBent’s business license.
