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Item No. {'1 Staff Report No. III Meeting Date: July 7, 1997 Type of Business: Work Session WK: Work Session;PH:Public Hearing; CA:Consent Agenda;CB:Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mayor and City Council From: Pamela Sheldon, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Discussion of Policy on Temporary Events , Date of Report: July 6, 1997 Summary: Staff is requesting direction from City Council on how to handle periodic requests for outdoor events and sales, often for charitable purposes. Staff is also asking for clarification whether activities requiring a peddler's license or license for rides, carnivals and circuses must also obtain a conditional use permit. Background: On occasion, staff receives requests from businesses and community groups to hold an outdoor event, usually for fundraising purposes. These events are typically one or two days, and occur in the parking lot of a business or church. Usually staff receives the request only days before the group wants to hold • the event, or the event happens without any request being received. The most recent request was for an outdoor event at Roberts Off Ten to raise money for a family in need, which was related to an employee at the restaurant. Staff in this case told them no because of the longstanding sensitivity of the adjacent neighborhood to activities at this restaurant, and the fact that there was insufficient time for them to request a conditional use permit. Roberts Off Ten would not qualify as a religious or charitable organization, but the event was proposed for charitable purposes. The Mounds View Zoning Code (Section 1100) allows for"open or outdoor service, sale and rental as a principal or accessory use and including sales in or from motorized vehicles, trailers or wagons" with approval of a conditional use permit in the B-3 and B-4 districts. Section 504 of the Municipal Code requires a license for peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants. This section exempts religious and charitable organizations which solicit upon streets, in office or business buildings, by house-to-house canvass or in public places. It does not give an exemption for the organization's own parking lot. All of the churches in Mounds View are in residential zoning districts, rather than B-3 or B-4, so obtaining a conditional use permit for outdoor services and sales is not an option. Section 408 of the Municipal Code requires a license for rides, carnivals and circuses. A strict reading of the Zoning Code would also require a conditional use permit for such activities. Staff is seeking direction on the following points: • Does the City want to allow religious and charitable organizations to be able to hold events in their own parking lots? In parking lots owned by businesses? If so, should they be exempt IIIfrom review both under the peddler license section and the conditional use permit section?