01-08-2002 - Workshop
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CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER
WORKSHOP
JANUARY 8, 2002
6:00 P.M.
COMMUNITY CENTER
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Schmidt called the Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. in the
Community Center.
ROLL CALL
Mayor Donald Schmidt
Councilman James Brown
Councilman Dennis Vincenzi
Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes
Councilwoman Judith Lichter
City Manager Kenneth Hooper
City Attorney Scott Cookson
City Clerk Susan Wadsworth
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the
Flag.
MEETING PURPOSE
The purpose of the Workshop is to discuss issues related to Noise
and Special Activities.
City Manager Hooper informed the Council they would start by
talking a little bit about the history of how they got where they
are, a little bit about the Land Development Code and current
status. They would then go outside and take a few minutes
because he wants the Council to hear what 60, 70 or 80 db's sound
like. After they come back in they are going to highlight the
ordinance and what they have done to date on two types of
ordinances, the Noise Ordinance and the Special Activities or
Special Events Ordinance. He is going to walk through from their
first work session describing what was put in place and what they
have drafted. They tried to send out drafts to anybody that ever
made a statement at the Council Meetings and those particular
owners of businesses to get comments back. He has five or six
sets from individuals that have seen the draft that have
responded back with some comments. At the end he wants Council
to make any changes.
City Manager Hooper went over a Powerpoint Presentation regarding
the History of Special Event Permits. (Attached)
City Manager Hooper described conditional use permits.
Councilman Vincenzi stated when you are talking conditional use,
you are talking about a different use than the business normally
does that does not exceed their normal parameters.
Councilwoman Lichter asked City Attorney Cookson if live
entertainment is the word and indoor and outdoor is not mentioned
per say, does that imply that it can be indoor and outdoor. City
Attorney Cookson stated this section would not prohibit that. If
it said live entertainment, there may be other ordinances or
codes that affect it being indoor or outdoor. You would look
towards the history of what the City has approved in the past.
City Manager Hooper spoke about when Rich's was off of Roberts
Road and they had Karaoke.
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city Manager Hooper stated City Attorney Cookson is right. That
by itself doesn't have the full weight of what you are trying to
determine.
city Manager Hooper stated Councilman vincenzi is correct. You
are after a conditional use for some unique reason but it runs
with the land and it becomes part of that parcel's ability to
continue on.
Councilman Vincenzi asked when Special Events kick in. City
Manager Hooper explained if it is an infrequent time period and
you have overflow parking. Conditional use permits would mean it
is on-going, every week you would have live entertainment.
Councilman Vincenzi stated you can apply for a conditional use as
long you don't overstep normal bounds of operating a business.
City Manager Hooper stated if you had a conditional use permit
and it is approved, you could do live entertainment at will.
There could be hours put on it but you could do it.
Councilman Vincenzi asked if that means if they normally don't
have outside entertainment that under a conditional use they
can't have it now. They have to apply for some other permit or
does that mean they can apply for a conditional use permit for
outdoor entertainment. City Manager Hooper stated right now no
one in the City that he is aware of has a conditional use permit
for outdoor, live entertainment. Councilman Vincenzi asked if
they can apply for it. city Manager Hooper stated yes they can.
Councilman Vincenzi feels this has to be changed. He thinks
conditional use should mean one thing and special events should
mean another. Councilman Brown feels they overlap too much.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated special events don't have to jump
through all the hoops. City Manager Hooper stated conditional
use you hear once. You hear it and you grant that restaurant the
ability to have live entertainment from then on.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked if the conditional use permits set up
the parameters for the conditional use. When you give that
permit, you say what they are allowed to do.
City Manager Hooper stated a Special Activity Permit is specific
to a certain event. The conditional use is an on-going use of
that property.
Councilman Vincenzi stated that isn't necessarily true. The No
Name Saloon is a restaurant that applies for Special Events.
City Manager Hooper stated if they follow our current code, they
are going to be applying for a conditional use. Councilman
Vincenzi feels that should be a lot clearer.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated in a conditional use permit you can
specify exactly when, where and how the event can occur.
City Attorney Cookson stated if they had a bar in the city that
had a conditional use permit to do live entertainment within the
bar, that same bar could then apply for a special activity permit
to do a larger event. City Manager Hooper stated they can have a
conditional use that says they are allowed 23 parking places and
that is the normal business for a sports bar but for super bowl I
want to put up a huge deal because I want a lot of people in.
They would have to hire off-duty officers and put up some other
kinds of things so you could have both activities.
City Manager Hooper spoke about special events in other cities.
Councilman Vincenzi stated in the noise ordinance they are going
to decide on decibel levels. The way he understands it, whether
you have a special event or not, the City still can't exceed
those noise levels. Mayor Schmidt stated that won't go just for
business but for anything.
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City Manager Hooper asked Chief Planner Darren Lear to go and set
up outside.
City Manager Hooper asked the Council if there is anything on the
history or the way we are doing it right now that is not clear.
City Manager Hooper spoke about when the No Name Saloon was
issued the occupational license for outdoor entertainment.
Mayor Schmidt stated the bottom line on this is the conditional
permit that is not familiar with this City right now is going to
be one of the major requirements for any business that wants to
do out of the ordinary or bigger things. City Manager Hooper
stated a Conditional Use Permit will be required for any
restaurant that wants live entertainment indoor or outdoor.
Special Activities for those that have overflow parking and can
exceed their capacity.
Councilman Brown asked City Attorney Cookson on the occupational
license that City Manager Hooper interpreted one way, how he
interprets it legal wise for the City. City Attorney Cookson
explained he isn't familiar with the issue. If it was wrong, he
doesn't think it carries any weight with it. If there is
something written on the occupational license that is not right
then it is the obligation of the City to go back and correct it.
The City has the right to say we made a mistake and we are
correcting it and whatever special privilege that gives you, can
be withdrawn by the City.
Councilman Vincenzi stated there is a comment which says one
thing but the Land Development Code says something else. City
Manager Hooper stated the Land Development Code changed September
10, 2001. When it was issued April 30th, it was probably
accurate. The Code changed afterwards. Councilman Vincenzi
stated he doesn't know if it was accurate at that time either.
City Manager Hooper stated clearly, the new one that would be
issued coming up would have to be in compliance with the new Land
Development Code.
An audience member asked if there is a difference in definition
between restaurant and bar. City Manager Hooper stated yes.
Another audience member asked if he could define the difference.
City Manager Hooper explained the State defines the difference.
Councilwoman Lichter stated somewhere in the old book it
describes it as not being partially plaid, naked, whatever else,
live entertainment. Do they need a cross reference on that or do
they need a little asterisk referring to notes on the bottom?
Should they have it in there so they might not have some of the
problems they have now? City Manager Hooper stated that has been
upgraded and corrected from the part Councilwoman Lichter is
talking about. They have adopted some changes to the live and
nude entertainment kinds of ordinances. What they are talking
about is music entertainment.
There was a recess at this time to go outside.
city Manager Hooper explained he wanted the Council to hear the
decibel levels they are talking about. They gathered a large
number of ordinances and they have tried to take the best of each
of those.
City Manager Hooper informed Council they purchased a new meter
that is a calibrated meter and meets the requirements of all the
ordinances that we have been able to bring in and look at. There
are three kinds of scales on the meters, A, B & C.
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City Manager Hooper stated all the cities we have gotten
ordinances from and the County, state and the EPA all use an A
weighted scale at what is called a slow response. That is the
only one DOT recognizes when they issue tickets for noise
violations.
City Manager Hooper asked city Clerk Wadsworth to put the draft
ordinances on the overhead starting with Noise. (Attached)
City Manager Hooper stated this is not in an ordinance format but
a format of defining for the Council how they would go about it.
He then went through the different sections of the first draft of
the Noise Ordinance.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked about the Noise Sensitive Zone
identified in the table under section 2 - General Restrictions.
City Manager Hooper explained that would really be for a hospital
or schools.
Councilwoman Lichter stated it is in the table but it is not
under the definitions. City Manager Hooper informed her it will
be. At this point, they haven't identified one.
City Manager Hooper continued his presentation with section 3 -
Specific noises prohibited.
Councilwoman Rhodes has a problem with unnecessary or
unreasonable in Item 1 under section 3. She asked if they are
too ambiguous and questioned if they need to be more specific.
City Manager Hooper stated they can look at that. These were
taken from existing ordinances.
Councilwoman Lichter asked if they are going through the whole
thing with city Manager Hooper because she had questions on
section One. City Manager Hooper stated he would like to go
through this and they will back up and Council speak to him one
section at a time.
city Manager Hooper then went over section 4 - Classification of
use occupancy, section 5 - Measurement standards and Waivers for
cultural events. Waivers for cultural events will take some
special discussion because at some point we are going to talk
about our own ampi-theater on our own park. He spoke about City
sponsored events and needing something that addresses how they
will handle that.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked why the City wouldn't have required to
comply the same as everybody else. city Manager Hooper stated it
may be that they are. That is part of what the Council will
decide. Councilwoman Rhodes feels they need to do whatever they
are asking anybody else to do. city Manager Hooper referred to
the definition for Cultural Event.
Mayor Schmidt asked if City Manager Hooper wanted to go over
individual questions on the Noise Ordinance first. City Manager
Hooper informed him yes.
Councilwoman Lichter stated usually the definitions are
alphabetical. City Manager Hooper stated it will wind up that
way. Councilwoman Lichter feels if the pages are numbered it is
much easier to find sections that are being discussed.
Councilwoman Lichter feels the definition for Noise Nuisance is
ambiguous also. She feels they should look at that and make it
more concrete.
Councilwoman Lichter stated in the old book, in our codes we are
going with now, those levels were lesser. She feels they need to
look at that.
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Council Workshop
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Councilwoman Lichter spoke about residential and someone working
in their garage after 10 p.m. If someone wants to complain, they
can contact the police or someone to stop him. City Manager
Hooper stated if it exceeds those decibel levels, someone will
come and measure it. Under Section 3 Item 7 it talks about
domestic power tools and hours they can be operated.
Councilwoman Lichter spoke about lawn care businesses starting at
6:30 a.m. being a nuisance. She asked if it is by State law that
grass cutting got excluded. She feels that can be a real
nuisance when they start at 6:30 a.m.
Councilwoman Lichter feels they should look at lowering the
ranges.
Councilwoman Lichter feels Section 10-21 in the Code of
Ordinances gives a good introduction. It doesn't seem they have
any introduction to this. City Manager Hooper informed her it
will. All they have here is a draft of the ordinance.
Councilwoman Lichter spoke about enforcement. There isn't
anything that says whether it will be the Police or the Code
Enforcement person or who is actually going to enforce it. City
Manager Hooper explained this will become part of the Code so it
is enforceable by the Code which puts it at Police and Code
Enforcement and all those folks they have seen through the Code
Enforcement process would be entitled, enabled and empowered to
enforce that.
Councilwoman Rhodes referred to the definition regarding real
property line. The first three words sayan imaginary line. She
feels that just needs to be a line. When you get into imaginary,
then you get into all kinds of things. She feels someone that
wants to get sticky, is going to take that word imaginary and
turn it into a nightmare. City Manager Hooper agreed to work on
a better definition.
Councilwoman Rhodes agreed with Councilwoman Lichter and feels
the sound levels need to be lowered. City Manager Hooper asked
if she had any numbers or if she is looking for the middle of
that range. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she is looking at the low
of each of those ranges. She suggested 60 and 50 for
residential. city Attorney Cookson stated that would be lower
than what we have in place now, right. City Manager Hooper
informed him that is correct.
Mayor Schmidt stated he feels the table needs to be separated
into weekdays being Sunday through Thursday and weekends. He
doesn't think too many people have issues with Friday night and
Saturday night. He feels it needs to be separated and the end
times looked at during the week. City Manager Hooper asked if he
is looking at residential or if he has a feel for commercial.
Mayor Schmidt stated commercial depends on where it lies with the
residential. He is not sure on the ranges. He would like to
take the decibel meter home and turn his system on and stand in
the middle of his street with his system on.
Mayor Schmidt stated he agrees with an enforcement section that
needs to be clear and they need to be able to do it because he
thinks a lot of this still is because what we have isn't
enforceable and we aren't as we need to be.
City Attorney Cookson asked about warnings. City Manager Hooper
stated he thinks they have to create that.
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Mayor Schmidt spoke about Waivers for cultural events. It says
the sponsor needs to give written notice to Homeowners
Associations within one mile. He asked where the one mile comes
in. When you think of the special events and the different
things we have now, you are talking 300 to 500 feet. He
questioned if they should stick to numbers of 500 feet around
whatever event that they need to notify. He feels the big thing
is the table.
Councilman Vincenzi feels cultural events need to be defined a
lot better. There is a difference between a special event that
occurs periodically, which could be considered a cultural event
but he doesn't think that is what cultural event is intended to
mean. He feels the Noise Nuisance definition is a little
ambiguous but unless you can come up with a better one, he thinks
its not too bad. He feels for the sound definition, it is
important to notice that they define sound as including duration,
intensity and frequency meaning you could hear a sound at a
certain level but the time you are listening to it makes a
difference too. He feels there needs to be more specific
guidelines.
Councilwoman Lichter asked Councilman vincenzi if that goes under
the other chapter where they did time frames that they take that
into consideration, under the Special Activity Master Plan.
City Manager Hooper stated Table One has the upper ranges for
noise limits. He asked Councilman vincenzi if they added
something else that had ranges or duration if that is what he was
looking for. Councilman Vincenzi feels it is a subjective thing
and should be left subjective.
City Attorney Cookson suggested modifying the definition of Noise
Nuisance to put some kind of continuous or repeated. Councilman
Vincenzi stated that is a start. Maybe formulate something and
bring it back.
Councilwoman Lichter feels there is a difference between sound
and noise. Councilman Vincenzi stated not to some people.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated that is subjective as well.
Councilman Vincenzi feels the time should be reduced to 9 p.m. at
the latest and sound levels. Decibels don't mean a lot to some
people but they do to him. He looked in some textbooks and quiet
neighborhoods are rated at about 40 decibels. He feels the range
of 60-70 should be changed from 50 to 55 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
City Manager Hooper stated when they are done, they aren't going
to have a range. Councilman Vincenzi stated he would settle for
the lower range. At night 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., the range should be
40 to 45 and if you want an exact number 40 decibels. He didn't
see any problem with Commercial as long as it isn't a business
area that borders a residential area. He wasn't sure exactly what
Noise sensitive zone was but he changed that from 55 to 40. He
also feels the Waivers for cultural events need to be consistent
with the cultural events definition.
Councilman Brown feels they need to work on cultural events and
define that better. He also feels they need to have a length of
time that someone can make an excessive loud noise. On the
Table, for residential he suggested no higher than 60. The next
range would be 50. For commercial it should be 65 and 55.
Manufacturing/industrial should be 70 and Noise sensitive zone
should be 40. He feels as far as enforcement, they have to make
sure people are given anything and everything they need to
enforce these laws.
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Councilman Brown spoke about airports and a housing development
being built around an airport. He stated Councilman Vincenzi
brought up about what is happening when we move south. If they
allow somebody to open up an excessively loud area and houses
move in there, they have to make sure the people know when they
move in there that they are moving into a noise allowed area.
Councilwoman Rhodes feels if there is a business that requires a
higher decibel level than what they have allowed for in the
Codes, how are they going to operate and are they going to allow
them to operate. City Manager Hooper stated if they have
something that is chronic continuing they will be back in front
of Council asking for relief from this.
Mayor Schmidt spoke about having episodes with people that have
built at the end of Massey's Air Ranch.
Councilwoman Lichter asked if the noise levels being proposed
match the State levels or are they lower because she doesn't want
to get in too much trouble with manufacturing and industrial.
City Manager Hooper explained those are existing for their
employees. If you are permitting something at DEP and you are
doing an outdoor boat manufacturing they have requirements there
and those numbers are much higher than this. That is for damage
to hearing, not nuisance kinds of things.
City Manager Hooper stated he has the definitions they need to
work on but the table is the real issue. He had Councilwoman
Rhodes and Councilman Brown at the bottom of the range.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated she agreed with Councilman vincenzi.
The lower the better. City Manager Hooper stated Councilwoman
Lichter picked those in the current Code. Mayor Schmidt didn't
pick. He divided it up into what they should do is come back on
weekends and others. He can average these or pick the lower of
all. He suggested the Council let him average them and put them
in the next draft. Council agreed.
City Manager Hooper stated the next draft would go to anybody
that leaves him a name and wants a copy. At the next meeting
there will be public input on that draft.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked City Manager Hooper to break down the
table to weekends and weekdays.
City Manager Hooper stated he would work on the cultural
definition, the cultural event and waivers for such.
A lady in the audience invited the Councilmembers to come to
Pelican Place during Bike Week and bring the decibel meter.
There was a ten-minute recess at this time.
Mayor Schmidt informed the public if anybody wants copies of this
that hasn't signed up, there is a sheet on the table to put your
name and address on it. As soon as this is re-drafted they would
get a copy of it.
Mayor Schmidt stated the next meeting is going to be the first
public workshop on February 5th at 6 p.m. at Edgewater Landing
Clubhouse. This workshop will be strictly public input.
City Manager Hooper went over the first draft for the Special
Activities ordinance. (Attached)
City Manager Hooper stated he likes the idea of a six month
split. If Council wants to try it for three months and see how
it works or try it for the full six, they are not cast in stone.
They picked six months because that is a reasonable time to look
at one of the Bike Events and associated outdoor activities or
associated other special activities that go with that.
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A gentleman in the audience feels the problem with this whole set
up is they could have 52 events by the way this is set up. He
feels they have to have somewhere in there that only those that
apply in time can get an application for this type of event.
Otherwise you are saying broadly that anybody can have an event
every single week.
councilman Brown stated he likes the hours and feels they are
acceptable. He feels what they are going to have to do if they
do come up with an idea on this is if the time has already gone
by, they will have to make an exception that they can apply at a
later date because of this. He feels they need to work on the
number of events. The numbers are not acceptable to him. He
sees one Bike event, either Bike Week or Biketoberfest, and
possibly two one day events in a six month period. councilwoman
Lichter and Mayor Schmidt stated that is what they had.
Councilwoman Lichter questioned if a bar like Earthquake Magoon's
who only uses four days a year would have to come in for this.
City Manager Hooper stated the way this is conceptualized is they
have a choice. They could come in and do the six month master
plan or sixty days before the event and do a single permit for
each event.
Councilman Brown likes the penalty section. He feels they will
work hard to maintain the rules and regulations that we have
because they realize if they don't, they will not be issued a
permit again.
City Manager Hooper informed Mayor Schmidt that Councilman Brown
talked of hours but he talked of closing hours. These have
opening hours of entertainment at 10 a.m. and that is what came
out of the last meeting. He doesn't think anybody is really
looking at ten. Councilman Brown suggested 12 p.m. on Sundays
until 6 p.m.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated in order to have live entertainment
you have to have a conditional use permit. City Manager Hooper
stated if you are a restaurant. Councilwoman Rhodes stated so
this applies to anything that isn't a restaurant. City Manager
Hooper stated or if you are a restaurant and you don't have a
conditional use and you want to do it one time. If you are a
restaurant and want to have continuing live entertainment all the
time you are a conditional use permit. If you want to come in
and do it infrequent, you can come in under this condition and
grant this.
Councilwoman Lichter stated and not have inside music. City
Manager Hooper explained this is really talking about outside
music. Councilwoman Lichter stated for special activities they
just can have outside music. City Manager Hooper stated you can
apply for one for inside or outside but the reality is they are
talking to you about outside entertainment when they do this.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated so Bike Week activities have to be
permitted for going outside the parking and their available
facilities. city Manager Hooper stated overflow parking and not
enough restrooms.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated that is paid for, all the municipal
costs that are associated with those events such as police and
trash and the bill is footed by the owner. City Manager Hooper
stated that is correct. Councilwoman Rhodes stated so the
taxpayers aren't paying any portion of any of these special
events. City Manager Hooper explained the closest stretch he
could call is saying that a Code Enforcement Officer that was
called out or a Police Officer that was called out for some
rowdiness, their tab would be because they were on duty.
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Councilman Brown suggested they have a bond. City Manager Hooper
explained they have an insurance policy that they name and cover
the City and that would cover one of our officers there or any
other public function that occurred while they were there.
Councilwoman Rhodes suggested during events like this there needs
to be a Code Officer on duty. City Manager Hooper stated that
has been talked about and he thinks that is probably going to
happen.
Councilwoman Lichter stated in the past the complaint that came
from the carnival was theft. The noise impact, interesting
enough, from the carnival, and they have never gotten complaints,
is probably just as loud as some of these other things so if a
complaint came in they would have to respond to that.
Mayor Schmidt asked Councilman Brown if he had anything else.
Councilman Brown asked how they would give the carnival a special
event. City Manager Hooper explained they would go through the
normal single event process.
Councilman Vincenzi stated he was looking this draft over and he
started making notations on it and he realizes a lot of people
put a lot of time and effort into it, but his recommendation is
to scrap the whole thing. It's got some good points if you are
going to go with special events and special activities but if you
think about the reason they are there it is because people are
complaining about noise and then they go to where they are
increasing the number of events when they should be going the
other way. They could either leave it the way it is, with one
event every six months or decrease it or eliminate it. He would
even go as far as to say they shouldn't eliminate outdoor
entertainment. As far as recommendations, he would recommend
just scrapping it and either keeping things the way they are our
eliminating outdoor entertainment altogether.
City Manager Hooper stated if they did that what they would wind
up with is what they early started with, the conditional use for
restaurants. If you said this is not it, then we are back to the
existing code and the existing code has restaurants that must
have a conditional use and have special activity permits and the
list of how they go about it. You wouldn't be eliminating. They
are there.
Councilman Vincenzi stated right now they limit it to one event
for six months. City Manager Hooper stated it is two per year
and ten days. Councilman Vincenzi stated with this it is one
major event plus five more. Councilwoman Lichter stated this
doesn't mean they go all of these when they come and ask for a
master plan. Might it be that they only get two of them or
something.
Mayor Schmidt stated even at this point right now, and just to
use last year as an example, these places had their ten day event
and also applied for a special event to have whatever charity
poker run or what other things that they had. This on the other
hand is going to give us an idea of what is going to happen.
Councilman Vincenzi stated he knows what he is saying but he
thinks those events were granted in error. Mayor Schmidt stated
but they were granted legally according to them going through and
applying for the special activity. Councilwoman Rhodes stated we
approved them. Councilman Vincenzi stated no we didn't, the City
did. Councilwoman Rhodes stated but we told the City to do that
so the buck has to stop with them. Councilman Vincenzi stated
they got their special event plus they got a few more which they
shouldn't have gotten. Councilwoman Rhodes stated he is right
and that is an enforcement issue. Councilman Vincenzi stated it
is an enforcement and approval issue and the whole process issue.
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City Manager Hooper stated he is right if they were able to get
more than two activity permits per year. Councilman Vincenzi
stated it says one every six months. City Manager Hooper said
no, it says two per year. Councilman vincenzi stated it says one
ten day event in a six month period. City Manager Hooper stated
he could be wrong but he believed it says two per year.
Councilwoman Lichter asked Councilman Vincenzi if he feels it
should be returned to the two. Councilman Vincenzi wants one in
a six month period. Councilman Brown suggested two one day
events allowed in six months.
Councilman Vincenzi stated he is in favor of no events but if
they have to have an event, it should be one in six months. He
again recommended scrapping it and either eliminate them and go
back to just the way it is and work on it. Have better
enforcement and really sticking to the rules with other changes
such as who approves it. City Manager Hooper stated to do what
he is saying, he is going to want to change this.
Mayor Schmidt asked where they came up with three times the
application fee on the penalty. He has nothing against it. City
Manager Hooper stated he made it up. Mayor Schmidt stated it
seems enough to open their eyes.
Mayor Schmidt went back to Section 3. He spoke about changing
the 5 one-day events to 2 one-day events in a six months period.
He doesn't have a problem with that.
Mayor Schmidt stated they talked a little bit about a Code
Enforcement Officer especially during the two big events that
this revolves around. There are some cities in some areas that
have a Code Enforcement Officer there at the expense of the
business to oversee things. Some of the concerns he has heard is
the extra activities that could develop and the possibility of
drugs and different things like that. This might be a great
deterrent to force the business to make sure things don't happen.
They usually require a couple traffic officers that usually have
their hands full with just traffic. This might be one way with
the big events to help control noise and different things like
that. City Manager Hooper stated and they are looking at that to
be paid by the business, right? Mayor Schmidt informed him yes.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated personally if she lived near any of
these Bike Week special events she would say have it and make all
the money you can and she would suffer for ten days. That is her
personal opinion. She has heard the citizens of Edgewater and
she has received more phone calls then she did over fluoride.
She wants the businesses in Edgewater to be able to make a
living. She does not want this to be an event driven town.
Councilwoman Rhodes doesn't agree with scrapping this because she
feels it is valid. She thinks this needs to be changed to one
event in six months. She feels the times can be changed. She
thinks the idea of a special activity master plan application is
a good idea. That can only help them to enforce and fine tune
exactly what the business wants as well as marry it with the
residents that live near these businesses. Any special activity
permit, now it does not come before the city council. That was
the doing of the City Council and they have to take the heat for
that. Obviously they need to do this. They need to see these
permits and allow public input on them and they need to be able
to have the opportunity to deny permits if it is causing too much
of an issue. She also thinks that enforcement is an issue. She
is having a really tough time seeing special events as being too
big a part of the life of Edgewater. She doesn't want that.
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Council Workshop
January 8, 2002
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Councilwoman Rhodes suggested one ten-day event every six months.
City Manager Hooper stated so it is one event that duration. They
would come in with a master plan and tell you how they plan to do
it but not necessarily related to bike events. Councilwoman
Rhodes feels you need to be fair and across the board. She
doesn't think it needs to be bike specific. There is going to be
things that come along that are not related to Bike Week at all.
Councilwoman Rhodes also feels repeat offender needs to be
defined.
Councilman Vincenzi feels that is reasonable. He feels that
coupled with a good noise ordinance, it should do the trick.
Councilwoman Lichter complimented whoever thought of the special
activity master plan and she knows it might be helpful to
business but her problem is six months looking at something. The
difficulty of enforcing every time and the difficult of letting
something go on and the fact that it is only that one time it
comes to Council. Each individual event in between doesn't. She
isn't saying throw it all out and maybe her time may be different
than Councilman vincenzi or Councilwoman Rhodes but she would say
that she doesn't see in this book any other city that is doing a
six month plan and she is worried about letting something go that
long.
Councilwoman Lichter stated in terms of the two week period it
should be ten days. If they look at it every time something
comes to them, they are better going to be able to say this is
the month of February and they have too much going on and say
this is just too much.
Councilwoman Lichter spoke about several establishments all
having special events in a given month being a lot of extra
activity on the roads. She suggested limiting the number of
establishments that have special events in a given month.
Mayor Schmidt stated he would think if you were going to say you
could have three events but you have six establishments that
might want to have them, the three that happen to get them, you
are going to be sued by the other three. Councilwoman Lichter
stated she is throwing out something that is a problem area of
how many things are going on in the City at a given time. She is
throwing that out for consideration.
Councilwoman Lichter suggested 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. for
entertainment amplified during the week. On Friday and Saturday,
she sees 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. On Sunday, 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. She
is also thinking about sustained noise. One of her complaints
was from Pelican Cove East where there was a special event with
three bands so there was music morning, noon and night. In one
of the documents they received, it gave in a 24 hour period so
many hours of music. There could be other outside things going
on but it doesn't have to be amplified music. Whatever might be
a reasonable concert period of music might be acceptable to her.
She spoke about limiting the period of time that music could be
played. There could be outside entertainment but not amplified
music. To her, two days is alright beyond the ten days in a six
month period.
Councilwoman Lichter stated one activity lasting five days during
a six month period, she is not sure if that is in excess of. She
feel sustained music from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. can really affect
people where a limited amount of time may not and maybe
reasonable. She feels reasonable is the key. Councilwoman
Rhodes suggested no more than 40 minutes in an hour. Councilman
Brown feels it would be excellent to put a time limit in.
A gentleman in the audience stated they have a DJ playing music
when the band takes a break.
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Council Workshop
January 8, 2002
f
THE CITY OF ED(;EWATER
POST OFFICE BOX 100-EDGEWATER, FLORIDA 32132-0100
Special Activities - first draft
December 27, 2001
Definitions
Special activity - any public or private activity held within the city limits of Edgewater in which
it can be reasonably anticipated that the number of persons attending the activity will exceed the
on-site parking available at the premises upon which the activity will take place and that services
will be required beyond that which are regularly provided by the City such as additional traffic
control, crowd control, fire and/or emergency services, street closures, cleanup or other
municipal services which may be necessary to service the activity.
Special activity master plan - a master plan defining all planned special activity activities for a
six-month period.
Civic group/non-profit organization - any group that meets for the improvement of the
community and whose main function is to make the community a better place to live either by
deed, donation of time or finances. A tax-exempt certificate is not necessary if the group meets
the above state criteria
Special activity permit - a permit issued to authorize a special activity. A special activity permit
can be issued based on a special activity master plan or a special activity permit can be issued
independently of a special activity master plan.
Special activity master plan permit - a six-month permit issued by City Council to authorize
,
special activities in accordance with the master plan.
Private business - any enterprise operating for profit.
Sponsor/promoter - any person, group or entity ultimately responsible III full or part for
producing, operating, sponsoring or maintaining a special activity.
City sponsored activity - sponsored or co-sponsored by the City Councilor any City department
for the benefit of the residents of the community.
Community activity - activities which take place on City owned or controlled property in which
the general public is invited to participate.
Outdoor entertainment - entertainment in the form of music, singing, speaking and similar
activities, amplified or non-amplified that is located outside of or partially outside of the area of
the sponsoring property permitted for normal retail sales or services.
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Section 1 - Scope
To establish policies and procedures pertaining to special activities, including but not limited to
outdoor entertainment, to ensure compliance with all applicable City and State requirements. A
special activity master plan permit is recommended for all businesses or sponsor/promoters
seeking approval for a series of special activities during a six-month period. An authorized
holder of a special activity master plan permit is authorized to conduct special activities in
accordance with Section 4 as described herein. Applicants seeking a special activity permit that
is not part of a master plan shall comply with Section 5 as described herein. Special activity
permits will be required for ALL special activities held within the City limits of Edgewater.
Section 2 -Special activitv master plan application requirements
An approved application for a special activity master plan shall authorize the holder to conduct
pre-approved special activities.
I. A special activity master plan application must be submitted by any private business or
sponsor/promoter wishing to conduct any of the following:
· Special activities during any of the two week periods known as Bike Week and
B iketoberfest.
· Single day activities in excess of five activities during a six month period
· One activity lasting longer than 5 days during a six month period
2. Outdoor entertainment/amplified sound is permitted at the following times and days:
· Weekdays 10:00 AM until 8:00 PM
· Friday and Saturday 10:00 AM until 10:00 PM
· Sunday 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM
Section 3 - Special activity master plan application process
I. A special activity master plan application must be completed and submitted to the
Planning Department. A conceptual site plan must be provided that depicts the location
of any permanent or temporary structures on the site, emergency vehicle access, patron
ingress and egress, vendor locations, locations of entertainment, locations of sanitary
facilities and a parking plan. The master plan application will contain information
regarding all of the special activities planned during a six month period including dates
and times of activities as well as anticipated number of participants/patrons. Activities to
be held during the six-month permit period may not exceed one lO-day activity (during
Bike Week and Biketoberfest) and 5 one-day activities. One-day activities can be
combined to be 2 consecutive days once during the six-month permit period.
2. City staff will review the submitted application for completeness and schedule a
Technical Review Committee meeting with the applicant. Written comments of staff
recommendations and issues addressed during this meeting will be generated to
accompany the special activity master plan application that will be submitted to the City
Council for review and consideration.
3. City staff will notify adjacent property owners within 300 feet of the site requesting the
special activity master plan of the date and time of the City Council meeting in which the
application will be reviewed. Applicant shall furnish names and addresses of affected
property owners to City staff.
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4. City Council will review the special actIvIty master plan application and staff
comments/recommendations. Based on the documents and input from all concerned
parties, the City Council will either grant or deny the permit, in whole or in part. The
permit, if approved, shall be good for the six-month period for which it was submitted,
January 1 st through June 30th or July 1 st through December 31 st. Deviations from the
approved master plan may not be made related to the conditions and scheduled dates
contained in the application without prior approval of the City Manager.
5. Completed special activity master plan applications for the January-June time period
must be received by the Planning Department no later than November 1 st of the current
year. Applications for the July-December time period must be received prior to May 1 st
of the current year.
Section 4 - Special activity permit application process for activities as part of an approved
master plan
1. A special activity permit will be required for each special activity held within the city
limits of Edgewater.
2. A special activity permit application must be completed and submitted to the Planning
Department for review by City staff. The application must include specific dates and
times of the planned activity (including set up and tear down), number and types of
vendors, type and hours of entertainment, specific parking layouts, quantity and location
of sanitary facilities.
3. No later than 10 business days after the receipt of the completed special activity permit
application, the Planning Department shall either issue the permit or provide the applicant
with written reasons for denial and/or delay of the permitting process.
4. No permit application shall be processed without receipt of the fee established by the City
Council.
5. No media advertisement of the special activity can be done prior to submittal and
approval of the special activity permit application.
Section 5 - Special activity permit application process for activities not part of an approved
master plan
1. A special activity permit will be required for each special activity held within the City
limits of Edgewater.
2. A special activity permit application must be completed and submitted to the Planning
Department for review by City staff at least 60 days in advance of the activity. The
application must include specific dates and times of the planned activity (including set up
and tear down), number and types of vendors, types and hours of entertainment, specific
parking layouts, quantity and number of sanitary facilities.
3. The completed special activity permit application and staff comments will be provided to
the City Council to review and consider at the next regularly scheduled meeting. City
staff will notify adjacent property owners within 300 feet of the site requesting the special
activity master plan of the date and time of the City Council meeting in which the
application will be reviewed.
Section 6 - Temporary structures
It shall be the responsihility of the applicant of the special actIvIty to ensure the structural
lI1tegrity of all telllporarY,lrullurcs erected for speCIal actiVIties. The structures are to be safe,
structurally sound and of adequate capacity to service the number of persons proposed to use the
structure. The Building Official and Fire Marshal shall verify such compliance is obtained.
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Section 7 - Inspections to ensure compliance
The City shall provided scheduled and unscheduled inspections prior to and/or during the special
activity by police, fire, code compliance, building and/or city administration representatives to
monitor and ensure compliance with all applicable City and State codes. Appropriate State
agencies are responsible for the inspection of amusement rides and public food preparation
facilities.
Section 8 - Penalties
Any person or entity who shall conduct, operate or maintain a special activity and fails to obtain
a special activity permit shall be punished by a fine of three times the cost of the application fee
as well as all associated City fees. No further special activities shall be authorized until all
penalties are current. A repeat offender shall not be eligible for a special activity permit for a
one-year period.
Section 9 - Exceptions
Any special activity sponsored/promoted by a CIVIC group or non-profit organization or co-
sponsored by the City of Edgewater may be exempt from any and all fee requirements. This
decision shall be rendered by the City Council and any waiver granted regarding these
requirements is only binding and applicable upon that one activity or portion thereof and shall
not mean that the sponsor/promoter has any rights to future waivers.
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