Charlottetown city council is moving to cut some of the red tape required for opening a home-based business in the city.

Coun. Rob Lantz doesn't believe classified ads announcing a home-based business application are necessary. (CBC)

The official plan for the city states that home-based businesses should be encouraged. That includes operations such as small accounting offices, massage therapists and hair salons. But there are costs to the application process. Currently, the potential owner has to pay for a newspaper ad and the cost of mailing notification letters to nearby residents.

The city is considering scrapping the need for a classified ad, which would save the entrepreneur several hundred dollars. Planning board chair Coun. Rob Lantz doesn't believe the classified ads are necessary.

"We have found in the past that when the notices go out in the mail, if there are any objections they certainly spread through the neighbourhood like wildfire and we hear about it," he said.

Notification letters would still have to be sent to anyone inside a 100-metre radius of the potential home-based business.

Coun. Mitchell Tweel said he can't support the idea of less communication with residents. "I have major concerns about council moving in this direction," said Tweel.

"If you want to be a government that's closest to the people then you use every possible method to get that message out."

City council voted last week to eliminate the need for newspaper ads. There was, however, some confusion over exactly what was being voted on, so the issue will likely be revisited by council.