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Item No. 07B Type of Business: CB Date: May 26, 2009 City Administrator Review _______ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Clerk-Administrator Item Title/Subject: First Reading of Ordinance 820, an Ordinance Revising Chapter 611 of the City Code Pertaining to Outdoor Special Events Background: On September 22, 2008, the Mounds View City Council adopted Ordinance 808 creating an Outdoor Special Event provision into the City Code. The intended purpose of adding the provision was to promote the health, safety, and welfare of all residents and visitors of the City by ensuring that special events do not create disturbances, become nuisances, threaten life, health and property, and disrupt traffic or damage private or public property. Discussion: Subsequent to the adoption of Ordinance 808, staff determined that the time and effort needed to implement and manage the requirements of the new regulations would be immense. Further, staff became aware of various deficiencies in the ordinance which would necessitate multiple amendments to further clarify the scope and intent of the provisions. Staff also received substantial, less than positive, feedback from organizations and property owners who would be subjected to the five page application and the fees associated with an outdoor event. It became clear that while the intent of the outdoor event chapter was worthy, the burden to staff and affected property owners exceeded any anticipated benefit. The Council discussed the provisions of Chapter 611 at their meetings on April 13, April 27 and again on May 4, 2009. While staff had originally brought forward a version of Ordinance 820 that amended the Chapter, after the discussion and direction of the Council at their May 4th work session, the ordinance was revised to simply strike the Chapter from the City Code, acknowledging that many of the regulations contained within Chapter 611 (such as noise, litter, nuisance, etc) are already addressed elsewhere in the Code. There seemed to be some interest in drafting new outdoor special event policy language that exempted any activity on private property, however this would leave only those events that are held on public property, which the City already controls by virtue of being the property owner. The City may very well desire a policy that provides greater detail as to what it might allow and under what circumstances, however staff would suggest that if this is pursued, it remain a policy and not be incorporated into the City Code. Finally, if the Council feels such a policy would be beneficial regarding the usage of public property for private or non-city sponsored events, I would recommend the task be considered by the Park and Recreation Commission in conjunction with input from staff and the YMCA.