Letters of Support
Rider Letter
February 07, 2007
LAWRENCE C. RIDER
BOULDER, CO 80301
February 7, 2007
Boulder County Land Use Department
Courthouse Annex
2045 13th Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302
BOULDER COUNTY BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
Re: Docket AP-06-004: CHING Appeal
Appeal of the Land Use Director's determination of conducting an illegal business, in the Forestry (F) Zoning District, at 18 Meadow Court; by Gregory and Deborah Ching (Appellants)
Greetings:
I am submitting this letter in support of the appeal of Gregory and Deborah Ching. I am confident that a number of supporters will speak to the reasonable use the Chings make of their property and their desire to have that opportunity continue. It is my intent to question the interpretation and application of the zoning use regulations by the Boulder County Land Use Director.
Having only the public notice and the popular press it is my understanding that Mr. Billingsley has determined that when the Chings collect donations from the attendees of house concerts to pay musicians they are engaging in a business which is prohibited in the Forestry Zone District. I am unaware of any other basis upon which the order to shut down the house concerts.
I submit that Mr. Billinsleys interpretation is not support by the Land Use Code, common usage of the term business or the case law in Colorado.
BOULDER COUNTY LAND USE CODE
The Boulder County Land Use Code does not define the term business.
GENERAL RULE OF CONSTRUCTION
When a word is not defined by statute, ordinance or statute, the courts will normally construe it in accord with its ordinary or natural meaning.
DEFINITIONS OF BUSINESS
Blacks Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition
Business.
•Employment, occupation, profession or commercial activity engaged in for gain or livelihood.
•Activity or enterprise for gain, benefit, advantage or livelihood.
•That which habitually busies or occupies or engages the time, attention, labor, and effort of persons as a principal serious concern or interest or for livelihood or profit.
Merrian-Webster On-Line Dictionary
Business.
-Usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood.
COLORADO CASES
A. Lindner Packing & Provision Co. v. Industrial Com'n, 60 P.2d 924 (Colo. 36)
The Colorado Supreme Court engaged in a lengthy analysis of what the term engaged in business means which includes in part:
6 Cyc. 259, defines business ' as follows: That which occupies the time, attention and labor of men for the purpose of a livelihood or profit; * * * that which one does for a livelihood; * * * the employment or occupation in which a person is engaged to procure a living; any particular occupation or employment for a livelihood or gain; * * *
1 Bouvier's Law Dictionary (Rawle's Third Revision), p. 406, defines Business' as: That which occupies the time attention, and labor of men for the purpose of livelihood or profit, * * *
It would be a very exceptional person-we do not know how to otherwise describe him-who would not understand that business is to the habitual or regular occupation that the party was engaged in with a view to winning a livelihood or some gain. These objects are necessarily implied when one's business is spoken of. Eliminate them, livelihood and gain, and it is no longer business, but amusement, which no one ever confounds with business.
Hutchings v. Burnet, 61 App.D.C. 109, 58 F.(2d) 514, used the following language: Business' is defined as that which occupies the time, attention, and labor of men for the purpose of livelihood or profit, but it is not necessary that it should be the sole occupation or employment. * * * Carrying on business' does not mean the performance of a single disconnected business act. It means conducting, prosecuting, and continuing business by performing progressively all the acts normally incident thereto, and likewise the expression doing business, when employed as descriptive of an occupation, conveys the idea of business being done, not from time to time, but all the time.
Hughes v. Pallas, 84 Colo. 14, 267 P. 608, 609, this court said: The contention of the plaintiff in error, that the clause and for no other business' is so all-exclusive that the three rummage sales of the churches in the restaurant constituted conducting business' within the terms of the lease, is not a construction to which we can give our assent. It is true that the word business' has a large significance, and has been defined to embrace everything about which a person can be employed. * * * Business' means constant employment, or a regular occupation, and implies the idea of permanence.
B. Denver v. Gushurst, 210 P.2d 616 (Colo. 49)
In arriving at its decision, the Colorado Supreme Court noted, ...(I)t appears that any activity which occupies the time, labor and attention of men for the purpose of a livelihood or profit is almost universally recognized as a business.
C. Nicholl v. E-470 Public Highway Authority, 896 P.2d 859, 868 (Colo. May 15, 1995)
At page 868 of the opinion, the Colorado Supreme Court noted that business is an activity carried on for net gain, benefit or livelihood.
CONCLUSION.
When the Chings host an occasional house concert at which they collect donations from attendees and then hand the money to the performers is not a business under Colorado law. There is no net gain, benefit, profit, livelihood, enterprise, employment or any other activity that would come close to a business. These objects are necessarily implied when one's business is spoken of. Eliminate them, livelihood and gain, and it is no longer business, but amusement, which no one ever confounds with business. Lindner, supra
If Mr. Billingsleys interpretation is sustained by the Board of Adjustment, it would be extending the provisions of the Land Use Code beyond its meaning whether in the Land Use Code or the law.
With due regards.
