Chapter 12.32
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sections:
12.32.030 Special event permit requirement.
12.32.040 Duties of the permittee/sponsor.
12.32.050 Public conduct during special events.
12.32.060 Revocation of special events permit.
12.32.080 Hold harmless and indemnification.
12.32.090 Temporary street or alley closures for residential block parties.
12.32.010 Purpose.
A. The town is interested in and encourages support of community sponsored events. The town recognizes the many social, cultural and financial benefits that are the result of including special events in the life of the community. Such benefits include general quality of life, economic growth, tourism, recreation, recognition of fine arts, charitable aid and many others that are both tangible and intangible. The town is aware of the need to blend the community events with other citizen activities in the community.
B. Notwithstanding the recognized importance of special events, it is incumbent upon the town to establish ordinances, policies and procedures which will allow for the advance planning and management of town personnel and financial resources as well as the public sidewalks, streets and rights-of-way under its control. The town urges the private sector to increase its role in community activities so that impacts on operating budgets and staffing of town departments can be minimized or eliminated. Further, the town urges that any organization, entity or applicant requesting permission to use public sidewalks, streets and rights-of-way under the town’s control also consider scheduling their event at a location other than a sidewalk, street or public right-of-way and submit their application to the town at least four weeks in advance whenever possible in order to facilitate the ability of town employees to, in advance, adequately plan, organize and assist in preparation for the event scheduled to be conducted. Finally, the town reserves the right to require the organizer of a special event to pay the cost of any overtime accrued by town employees as a direct result of special event support.
C. The town encourages and supports community events while working with event sponsors. This chapter establishes procedures for submission and processing of requests, conduct and requirements for special events proposed to be conducted on/in or having a direct effect upon public sidewalks, streets and rights-of-way under the city’s control or traffic flow within the town. (Ord. 238 §1, 2008)
12.32.020 Definitions.
A. "Demonstration" means any public gathering of twenty-five or more persons for the purpose of a public display of grievances or in the support of any legal purpose.
B. "Parade" means any organized group, marching or in procession, whether on foot, animal or vehicle or some combination thereof which does not comply with normal and usual traffic regulations and controls.
C. "Parade route" means the town approved route of travel of any permitted parade or fun run including the assembly, staging and disbanding areas.
D. "Special event" means any parade, concert, demonstration, block party, march, fun run, walk-a-thon, athletic event, bicycle race or any such gathering of people in which the activity takes place on, in, or through any public sidewalk, street, right-of-way or park.
E. "Political speech" is the public expression of views in support of or in opposition to public figures or political candidates or any laws, regulations, actions, or policies of any branch of local, state, federal, or global governmental institution and its executory and enforcement agencies.
F. "Religious speech" is the public espousal of or support for a particular religious or spiritual view or support or opposition to actions or policies of established religious institutions. (Ord. 238 §2, 2008)
12.32.030 Special event permit requirement.
A. A special event permit is required for use of a public sidewalk, street, public right-of-way or park whenever, in the opinion of the town police department, town public safety regulation or control of motor vehicle or pedestrian traffic or public safety police protection is required for conducting the special event. Permit applications shall be obtained from the town offices. Special event permits shall be issued by the town clerk after consultation with the police department, the fire department, the public services department and the operations manager. It is unlawful to conduct a special event regulated by this chapter without a permit. The entity or person organizing, sponsoring or conducting the special event shall be responsible for obtaining any required liability insurance policy coverage as well as for applying for a special event permit. It is recommended the entity or person organizing or sponsoring the special event start the permit process at least four weeks in advance when time permits. If the submittal is received by town officials at least four weeks in advance of the event, the application may be circulated through intra-departmental mail. However, if it is received less than four weeks prior to the event, the applicant shall be responsible for going individually to the police, fire and public services departments to obtain any necessary approval. Completing those approvals, the applicant must return the application to the town clerk for review. The request is then forwarded to the operations manager for final consideration.
B. The issuance of a special event permit shall be governed by the following standards:
1. The applicant or sponsors of the special event shall provide liability insurance providing coverage for their organization and naming the town as an additional insured. Liability insurance coverage shall be in the minimum amounts of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars per claimant and one million five hundred thousand dollars per occurrence.
2. The applicant for any special event must have a traffic control plan which has been reviewed and approved by the public services superintendent, the police chief and the fire chief. Town staff shall be responsible for placing and removing any required barricades or traffic control devices.
3. No permit shall be necessary for sidewalk picketing or marching being conducted solely on public sidewalks when the picketing is conducted in such a manner that allows pedestrian traffic an opportunity to pass by unobstructed and that allows pedestrian and/or motor vehicle traffic an unobstructed opportunity for ingress and egress to property.
4. No special event shall be conducted on a public street, sidewalk or right-of-way between the hours of ten p.m. and eight a.m.
5. The police chief or his designee shall be empowered to reasonably designate the route of a parade or event to be consistent with one of the recommended routes approved by the police and public service departments. If the applicant is unwilling to modify the application to incorporate this change, the application shall be denied.
6. The police chief or his designee may limit use of a street for a special event to one side or portion of a street whenever necessary in the public interest in order to provide and preserve public safety and traffic control in order to permit simultaneous use of streets by those participating in the special event and other motor vehicle traffic.
7. If the proposed special event is for the primary purpose of commercial advertising and it would disrupt streets or public places ordinarily subject to great congestion during the time of the special event, or would require such a diversion of police protection that it would deny reasonable police protection to the town, the application may be denied, unless the applicant modifies the proposed special event to satisfactorily deal with these concerns in a manner reasonably acceptable to the police chief or his designee.
8. A special event permit application requiring police protection for public safety may be denied if the application requests the conducting of a special event at the same time as another special event requiring police protection that is being conducted in a different vicinity at a different geographical location and the additional diversion of police protection would deny reasonable police protection to the town.
9. A special event permit application may be denied if it would require such a substantial amount of police protection for public safety that it would deny reasonable police protection to the remainder of the town, even when additional off-duty police officers would be employed on an overtime basis.
10. A special event permit application may be denied if the request is for a time and location where a special event or street excavation or construction project has already been scheduled for that time and location and an irreconcilable conflict exists between the two so that they could not reasonably be conducted at the same time and location.
11. A special event permit application may be denied if it would be:
a. Obscene pursuant to Montana state law; or
b. Hazardous to public health or safety; or
c. Would create an extraordinary amount of litter and the applicant has not presented an acceptable, effective plan for the applicant to clean up the litter immediately after the conclusion of the special event; or
d. Would substantially interfere with emergency ambulance, fire or police service and the applicant fails to modify the application request to satisfactorily alleviate or eliminate this interference with emergency services.
12. When such an event will be an exercise of political and religious rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the application shall be processed promptly, without requiring liability insurance.
13. Spontaneous special events in response to political and public controversies may not be denied a special event permit.
C. An applicant desiring to appeal any denial of a permit application may appeal to the town council at the next regularly scheduled town council meeting. (Ord. 238 §3, 2008)
12.32.040 Duties of the permittee/sponsor.
The permittee shall comply with all permit conditions and directions and with all applicable laws and ordinances. The permittee, sponsor or other person leading or directing the special event shall carry a copy of the permit upon his/her person during the conducting of the event and if not available at the site designate another individual to be present and have possession of a copy of the permit at the site. (Ord. 238 §4, 2008)
12.32.050 Public conduct during special events.
A. The following types of public conduct shall not be allowed during a special event:
1. Any person unreasonably hampering, obstructing, impeding or interfering with the reasonable conduct of any special event;
2. Any driver of any vehicle driving between the vehicles or persons comprising any parade, assembly or similar activity when such vehicles or persons are conspicuously engaged in a parade, assembly or similar activity; provided, that this provision shall not apply to authorized emergency vehicles such as police, fire, ambulance and service vehicles which may be engaged in an emergency situation;
3. Participants in any parade, march or procession, whether driving, riding or walking, shall not consume, use, display or be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs which violate any law or ordinance.
B. The chief of police shall have the authority to prohibit or restrict parking of vehicles along any street constituting the route of a parade or procession and in any street proximately located to the site of a special event when such parking restrictions or prohibitions are necessary to the safe conduct of the activity. The chief of police shall order the posting of signs and/or barricades to such effect and it shall be unlawful for any person to park or leave unattended any vehicle in violation thereof except emergency or service vehicles engaged in an emergency situation. Further, if any street is entirely closed off for the purpose of conducting a special event, other than a parade, within the closed street the organizer or sponsor of the special event shall have the responsibility of providing street barricades and signs informing the public of the street closure. The placement of signs and barricades for all special events located within the city right-of-way shall be approved by the public services superintendent. Barricades and signs shall be used that comply with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). (Ord. 238 §5, 2008)
12.32.060 Revocation of special events permit.
All permits issued pursuant to this chapter are without advance notice, subject to revocation for cause at any time by the chief of police or other police official in charge whenever the public interest, general welfare, health and safety would be best served by revocation for cause. The chief of police or other police official in charge upon revoking a permit may require the participants and spectators to disperse whenever the permittee is failing to satisfy the conditions and/or obligations under the permit or whenever there is imminent danger of public disturbance or disorder. (Ord. 238 §6, 2008)
12.32.070 Violation--Penalty.
Any person who shall be guilty of any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars. There shall be no penalty of imprisonment for a violation of any provisions of this chapter. (Ord. 238 §7, 2008)
12.32.080 Hold harmless and indemnification.
Applicants for a special event permit shall agree in writing to defend, hold the city and its employees harmless and indemnify the town for any and all claims, lawsuits or liability including attorneys’ fees and costs allegedly arising out of loss, damage or injury to person or person’s property occurring during the course of or pertaining to the special event caused by the conduct of employees or agents of applicants. (Ord. 238 §8, 2008)
12.32.090 Temporary street or alley closures for residential block parties.
Residential block parties may be authorized by the operations manager in consultation with police, fire and public services departments at residential locations not involving closure of any arterial or collector streets and during hours between eight a.m. and ten p.m. subject to the following conditions:
A. All abutting or adjacent property owners as well as the property owners on the corner lots immediately across the intersection on the opposite side of the street closure shall be contacted by the party organizers and have the opportunity to voice concerns to the applicant and the town;
B. The applicant for any special event must have an approved traffic control plan and shall be solely responsible for obtaining, placing and removing any required barricades or traffic control devices;
C. The applicant or sponsors of the event to the extent reasonably possible shall provide liability insurance protecting themselves as well as naming the town as an additional insured;
D. Comply with any conditions imposed by the town police, fire or public services departments;
E. The applicant must agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the town from any claims or lawsuits that arise out of the temporary street closure usage. (Ord. 238 §9, 2008)
12.32.100 Exceptions.
The operations manager may grant exceptions to the provisions of Section 12.32.030(B)(1) (pertaining to liability insurance requirement limits) and/or Section 12.32.030(B)(4) (pertaining to hours of event) taking into account the general public health, safety and welfare associated with the request for exception, as well as the liability risk and the applicant’s ability to pay. When the operations manager considers requests for exceptions, the operations manager shall base the operations manager’s decision on the factual circumstances presented and decide the specific request on its merits and the operations manager may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability unless based on a bona fide liability risk, general welfare, health or safety reason(s). (Ord. 238 §10, 2008)