Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout018 - 04/21/1987 - ADDING TO THE CITY CODE REGARDING SPECIAL EVENTS ORDINANCE NO. 18, 1987 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS ADDING CHAPTER 92 TO THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS REGARDING SPECIAL EVENTS BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS: Section 1 . Chapter 92 is hereby added to the Code of the City of Fort Collins as follows: CHAPTER 92 SPECIAL EVENTS § 92-1 . Purpose. This chapter establishes the standards for the issuance of a permit for parades, athletic events, and other special events in the City. § 92-2. Definitions. A. "Applicant" shall mean any person or organization who seeks a special event permit from the City to conduct or sponsor an event governed by this Chapter. An applicant must be 18 years of age or older. B. "Athletic Event" shall mean an occasion in which a group of persons collectively engage in a sport or form of physical exercise on a street or highway, including sidewalks, which obstructs, delays or interferes with the normal flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or does not comply with traffic laws and controls. Athletic events include, but are not limited to, bicycle and foot races. C. "Block Party" shall mean a festive gathering on a residential street requiring the closure of a street or a portion thereof to vehicular traffic and use of the street for the festivity, including barbecues, picnics, music or games. D. "Coordinator" shall mean the Chief of Police or his designee. E. "Event" shall mean a parade, athletic event or other special event. F. "Other Special Event" shall mean a street fair, art and craft show, carnival , block party, soap box derby, rally and other special events that occur on a street or highway, including sidewalks, or on a publicly-owned outdoor mall or plaza which obstructs, delays or interferes with the normal flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, or does not comply with traffic laws and controls. G. "Parade" shall mean a march or procession consisting of persons, animals or vehicles, or combination thereof, on any street or highway, including sidewalks, which obstructs, delays or interferes with the normal flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or does not comply with traffic laws or controls. H. "Permittee" shall mean any person or organization who has been issued a special event permit by the Coordinator. I. "Street or highway" has the same meaning as defined in Section 25-3(r) of the Model Traffic Code, as adopted and amended by the City, and includes bike and pedestrian lanes or paths. § 92-3. Permit required. Any person desiring to conduct or sponsor a parade, athletic event or other special event in the City shall first obtain a special event permit from the Coordinator; provided, however, that a special event permit is not required for the following: A. Parades, athletic events or other special events that occur exclusively within city parks or streets within city parks and are sponsored or conducted by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City. B. Parades involving a total of forty (40) or fewer pedestrians marching along a route that is restricted to sidewalks and which crosses streets only at pedestrian crosswalks in accordance with traffic regulations and controls. Pedestrians participating in such parades shall cross streets in groups of fifteen (15) people or less, and shall allow vehicles to pass between each group. C. Funeral Processions. § 92-4. Application Procedure: fee A. Any person desiring to sponsor a parade, athletic event or other special event not exempted by Section 92-3 shall apply for a special event permit by filing a verified application with the Coordinator on a form supplied by the Coordinator. Applications must be submitted not less than 20 business days nor more than one year before the event date. B. Upon a showing of good cause, the Coordinator shall consider an application relating to a non-athletic event that is filed after the filing deadline if there is sufficient time to process and investigate the application and obtain police services for the event. Good cause can be demonstrated by the applicant by showing that the circumstance that gave rise to the application did not reasonably allow the applicant to file within the time prescribed, and that the event is for the purpose of exercising the right of free speech. C. If the applicant is a profit-making organization, the application for a permit shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable permit application fee in an amount set by City Council Resolution. The fee shall cover the full cost of processing and investigating such special event -2- permit applications and administering the special event permit program. No permit application fee shall be charged to non-profit organizations. § 92-5. Action on 'application. The Coordinator shall approve, conditionally approve or deny an application on the grounds specified in Section 92-6. Such action shall be taken no later than ten (10) business days after receiving a completed application and fee, if applicable. If the application is denied or conditionally approved, the Coordinator shall inform the applicant in writing of the grounds for denial or the conditions on the permit and the applicant's right of appeal . If the Coordinator relied on information about the event other than that contained in the application, he/she shall inform the applicant of such information. If the Coordinator refuses to consider a late application under Section 92-4(B) , he/she shall inform the applicant in writing of the reason for the refusal , and of the applicant's right of appeal . § 92-6. Grounds for denial of application. A. The Coordinator shall approve an application for a special event permit unless he/she determines, from a consideration of the application and other pertinent information, that: 1. Information contained in the application, or supplemental information requested from the applicant, is found to be false in any material detail ; or 2. The applicant fails to complete the application form after having been notified of the additional information or documents required; or 3. Another special event permit application has been received prior in time, or has already been approved, to hold another event at the same time and place requested by the applicant, or so close in time and place as to cause undue traffic congestion, or the Police Department is unable to meet the needs for police services for both events; or 4. The time, route or size of the event will substantially interrupt the safe and orderly movement of traffic contiguous to the event site or route or disrupt the use of a street at a time when it is usually subject to traffic congestion, or may substantially interfere with the safety of the public or participants in the event; or 5. The concentration of persons, animals and vehicles at the site of the event, or the assembly and disbanding areas around an event, will prevent proper police, fire or ambulance services to areas contiguous to the event; or -3- 6. The size of the event will require diversion of so great a number of peace officers of the City to ensure that participants stay within the boundaries or route of the event, or to protect participants in the event, as to prevent normal protection to the rest of the City. Nothing herein authorizes denial of a permit because of the need to protect participants from the conduct of others, if reasonable permit conditions can be imposed to allow for adequate protection of participants with the number of peace officers available to police the event; or 7. The location of the event will substantially interfere with any construction or maintenance work scheduled to take place upon or along the City streets or a previously granted encroachment permit; or 8. The event shall occur at a time when a school is in session on a route or at a location adjacent to the school or class thereof, and the noise created by the activities of the event would substantially disrupt the educational activities of the school or class; or 9. The event involves the use of hazardous, combustible or flammable materials which could create a fire hazard. B. When the grounds for denial of an application for permit specified in subsections A(4) through A(9) above can be corrected by altering the date, time, duration, route or location of the event, the Coordinator shall instead of denying the application conditionally approve the application upon the applicant's acceptance of conditions for permit issuance. The conditions imposed shall provide for only such modification of the applicant's proposed event as are necessary to achieve compliance with said subsections. § 92-7. Permit conditions. The Coordinator may condition the issuance of a special event permit by imposing reasonable requirements concerning the time, place and route of the event and such requirements as are necessary to protect the safety of persons and property and the control of traffic, provided such conditions shall not unreasonably restrict the right of free speech. Such conditions include but are not limited to the following: A. Alteration of the date, time, route or location of the event; B. Conditions concerning the area of assembly and disbanding of parade or other events occurring along a route; C. Conditions concerning accommodation of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, including restricting the event to only a portion of a street; -4- D. Requirements for the use of traffic cones, barricades or other traffic control devices to be provided, placed and removed by the permittee a_t its expense; E. Requirements for provision of first aid or sanitary facilities; F. Requirements for arrangement of supplemental fire protection personnel to be present at event at the permittee's expense; G. Requirements for use of event monitors and providing notice of permit conditions to event participants; H. Restrictions on the number and type of vehicles, animals or structures at the event and inspection and approval of floats, structures and decorated vehicles for fire safety by the Poudre Fire Authority; I . Requirements for use of garbage containers, cleanup and restoration of City property; J. Restrictions on use of amplified sound; K. An application for a special event permit to conduct a block party may be conditioned on notice to the residents of dwellings along the affected street(s) ; L. Compliance with any relevant law and obtaining any legally required permit or license, including a temporary vendor's license under Article XXI , Chapter 73 of the Code. § 92-8. Appeal procedure. The applicant shall have the right to appeal the denial of a permit or a permit condition. A notice of appeal shall be filed with the City Manager' s office setting forth the grounds for the appeal within five (5) business days after mailing or personal delivery of a notice of denial or permit condition. The City Manager or his designee shall hold a hearing no later than five (5) business days after the filing of the appeal and shall render his decision no later than one business day after the hearing. The City Manager's decision is final . § 92-9. Permit Issuance. The Coordinator shall issue the special event permit once the application has been approved, the applicant has agreed in writing to comply with the terms and conditions of the permit, and the following sections of this Chapter have been complied with: A. Section 92-10 pertaining to indemnification; B. Section 92-11 pertaining to insurance: -5- C. Section 92-12 pertaining to traffic control fees; and D. Section 92-13 pertaining to cleanup deposits (when applicable) . § 92-10. Indemnification agreement. Prior to the issuance of a special event permit, the applicant and authorized officer of the sponsoring organization (if any) must sign an agreement for the permittee to reimburse the City for any costs incurred by it in repairing damage to City property occurring in connection with the permitted event proximately caused by the actions of the permittee, its officers, employees or agents, or any person who was under the permittee' s control . The agreement shall also provide that the permittee shall defend the City against, and indemnify and hold the City harmless from, any liability to any persons resulting from any damage or injury occurring in connection with the permitted event proximately caused by the actions of the permittee, its officers, employees or agents, or any person who was under the permittee's control . Persons who merely join in an event are not considered by that reason alone to be "under the control " of the permittee. § 92-11 Insurance. A. To the extent required by administrative guidelines adopted by the Coordinator, the applicant must possess or obtain public liability insurance to protect against loss from liability imposed by law for damages on account of bodily injury and property damage arising from the event. Any change in such guidelines shall only be effective as to applications received after such change is adopted. Such insurance shall name on the policy or by endorsement as additional insureds the City, its officers, employees and agents. B. If insurance coverage is required pursuant to subsection A, above, a copy of the policy or a certificate of insurance along with all necessary endorsements must be filed with the Coordinator no less than 10 days before the date of the event unless the Coordinator for good cause changes the filing deadline. C. The insurance requirements of subsections A and B above shall be waived by the Coordinator for nonathletic events if the following conditions are satisfied: 1 . The applicant or an officer of the sponsoring organization signs a verified statement that he/she believes the event's purpose is First Amendment expression, and that he/she has determined that the cost of obtaining insurance is so financially burdensome that it would constitute an unreasonable burden on the right of First Amendment expression, or that it has been impossible to obtain insurance coverage. The statement shall include the name and address of one insurance agent or other source for insurance coverage contacted to determine insurance premium rates for insurance coverage. -6- 2. The City may, in its discretion, require the applicant to apply for insurance coverage for the event under a policy selected by the City. The applicant must provide any information pertinent to qualifying for the insurance coverage. The premium for such insurance coverage would be paid by the City rather than the applicant. § 92-12. Traffic control fees• optional use of pre-established event routes. A. Prepayment of Fees. Upon approval of an application for a special event permit, the Coordinator shall provide the applicant with a statement of the estimated cost of providing peace officers for traffic control at the event. The applicant of the event shall be required to pay the estimated traffic control fees no later than five (5) days prior to the event. Traffic control includes clearing the event route or site of unauthorized vehicles, diversion of traffic around the event, and directing pedestrian and vehicular traffic along the route of an event. B. Computing Traffic Control Fees. Traffic control fees will be computed based on an hourly rate with a minimum charge of two (2) hours per officer or supervisor. The hourly rate is based upon negotiated benefits for peace officers and will be updated periodically. The Coordinator shall keep a record of such rate. C. Refunds or Overruns. If the actual cost for traffic control on the date of the event is less than the estimated cost pursuant to subsection A above, the difference will be promptly refunded to the applicant by the City, subject, however, to the minimum stated in subsection B above. If the actual cost for traffic control is more than the estimated cost, the City shall bill the applicant for the excess and the applicant shall pay the same within ten (10) days of the date of the bill . D. Pre-Established Event Routes and Fees. The Coordinator shall pre-establish several event routes within the City which may be, but are not required to be, used by applicants. The routes shall specify the number of officers and traffic control devices or marshalls needed for traffic control on the routes, if any. Such pre- established event routes and the fee schedule for traffic control services shall be made available to the public. E. Waiver of Fees for Free Speech Events. Traffic control fees will be waived by the Coordinator for nonathletic events if the following conditions are satisfied: 1 . The applicant signs a verified statement that he/she believes the event's purpose is First Amendment expression, and that he/she has determined that the cost of traffic control fees is so financially burdensome that it would constitute an unreasonable burden on the right of First Amendment expression; and -7- 2. The applicant selects one of the pre-established event routes. § 92-13. Cleanup deposits for certain special events. A. In connection with an event involving the sale of food or beverages, erection of structures, presence of horses or other large animals, or erection of water aid stations, the applicant shall be required to provide a cleanup deposit prior to the issuance of a permit. The cleanup deposit shall be in the amount established by the Coordinator. B. The cleanup deposit shall be returned after the event if the area used for the event has been cleaned and restored to the same condition as existed prior to the event. C. If the property used for the event has not been properly cleaned or restored, the applicant shall be billed for the actual cost to the City for cleanup and restoration, and the cleanup deposit (or a portion thereof) shall be applied toward payment of the bill . If the applicant disputes the bill , he/she may appeal to the Coordinator within ten (10) days of the date of the bill . Should there be any unexpended balance on deposit after completion of the work, this balance shall be refunded to the applicant. Should the amount of the bill exceed the cleanup deposit, the difference shall be billed to the applicant by the City and the applicant shall pay the same within ten (10) days of the date of the bill . § 92-14. Duties of permittee. A. The permittee shall comply with all terms and conditions of the special event permit. B. The permittee shall ensure that the person leading a parade or other event along a route, or the person in charge of any other event, carries the special event permit on his person for the duration of the event. C. The permittee shall ensure that the area used for the event is cleaned and restored to the same condition as existed prior to the event, immediately following the completion of the event. § 92-15. Violations. A. It is unlawful for any person to sponsor or conduct a parade, athletic event or other special event requiring a special event permit unless a permit has been issued for the event. It is unlawful for any person to participate in such an event with the knowledge that the sponsor of the event has not been issued a permit. B. It is unlawful for any person to interfere with or disrupt a lawful parade, athletic event or other special event. -8- C. The special event permit authorizes the permittee to conduct only such event as is described in the permit in accordance with the terms and conditions of the permit. It is unlawful for the permittee to willfully violate the terms and conditions of the permit, or for any event participant with knowledge thereof to willfully violate the terms and conditions of the permit. Section 2. Severability. The City Council declares that should any section, paragraph, sentence, word or other portion of this ordinance be declared invalid for any reason, such invalidity shall not affect any other portion of this ordinance, and the City Council hereby declares that it would have passed all other portions of this ordinance independent of the elimination herefrom of any such portion which may be declared invalid. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published in summary form this 17th day of March, A.D. 1987, and to be presented for final passage on the 21st day of April , A.D. 1987. Mayo � ^� AT ST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 21st day of April , A.D. 1987. ayor ' ATTEST- City Clerk -9-