Honorable Mayor and Members of the Hermosa Beach City Council
Regular Meeting of January 25, 2022
Title
DESIGNATION OF A MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF FEE WAIVERS TO BE
GRANTED FOR SPECIAL EVENTS HELD IN 2022
(Community Resources Manager Lisa Nichols)
Body
Recommended Action:
Recommendation
Staff recommends City Council designate a maximum amount of $20,000 in fee waivers to be granted for special events held in 2022, as per the City’s Special Event Fee Waiver Policy.
Body
Executive Summary:
The City’s Special Event Policy Guide, adopted by City Council in 2017, outlines policies and procedures required of event producers to hold an event on public property within the City of Hermosa Beach. An updated Special Event Fee Waiver Policy was included following its adoption by the City Council on October 10, 2019. The Special Event Fee Waiver Policy requires City Council to annually designate a maximum amount of fee waivers that may be granted for special events held in each calendar year. As staff develops the 2022 calendar of events, the Parks, Recreation and Community Resources Advisory Commission’s (Commission) consideration of fee waiver requests must take place soon to ensure event producers have time to financially plan for their events. Therefore, staff requests City Council designate the maximum amount of fee waivers that can be applied to qualified events held in 2022.
Background:
The City’s Special Event Policy Guide (Attachment 1), adopted by City Council in 2017, outlines policies and procedures required of event producers to hold an event on public property within the City of Hermosa Beach. At its October 10, 2019 meeting, City Council approved the Commission’s recommended Special Event Fee Waiver Policy.
The policy provides the Commission the ability to approve the award of fee waivers through a grant process. As detailed in the policy, City Council is to annually affirm the maximum amount of grant funding available to the Commission to award to qualified events for the upcoming calendar year. City Council designated a maximum of $20,000 for events held in each of the last two, calendar years.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, events were unable to be held in the 2020 calendar year or from January through March of the 2021 calendar year. Therefore, no fee waivers were granted during these time periods. The fee waivers granted in the remainder of the 2021 calendar year, from April through December, can be found in Table 1 below:
At its October 12, 2021 meeting, City Council approved an additional waiver of $23,542 for the Hermosa Holidays event organized for community-wide benefit by the Chamber of Commerce. This was a one-time waiver of two days of Pier Plaza Use Fees. Future requests for fee waivers would be handled through the formalized grant process per policy.
Past Council Actions
|
Meeting Date |
Description |
|
October 10, 2019 |
Council approves adoption of Special Event Fee Waiver Policy |
|
October 12, 2021 |
Council approves a one-time waiver of two days of Pier Plaza Use Fees for Hermosa Holidays event |
Discussion:
The Special Event Policy Guide outlines the Special Event Fee Waiver policy and the level of fee waivers that can be awarded in addition to the types of fees that are eligible for fee waiver consideration, including:
“Grants will be awarded up to a maximum of $2,500 per event or a 50 percent reduction of indirect City special event fees, whichever is the lesser amount.”
Each organization that meets the qualifications of the grant policy, may receive the lesser amount of $2,500 or 50 percent of applicable special event fees (indirect costs) eligible for reduction. Fees applied toward the application fee, staff time, inspections, Police or Fire services, etc. are ineligible. Those fees that are eligible for fee reductions include daily permit fees, set-up and tear-down fees, etc. Included in Table 2 are the various special event fees categorized between indirect or direct fees:
As required in the Special Event Fee Waiver Policy, City Council must annually determine a maximum amount of fee waivers the Commission can award to qualifying events for each calendar year. The City Council designated the maximum of $20,000 in fee waiver grants for each of the 2020 and 2021 calendar years. As previously noted, grant funding was not awarded in 2020 and from January through March in 2021 due to event cancelations associated with COVID-19 precautionary measures.
General Plan Consistency:
This report and associated recommendation have been evaluated for their consistency with the City’s General Plan. Relevant Policies are listed below:
Parks and Open Space Element
Goal 3. Community parks and facilities encourage social activity and interaction.
Policy:
• 3.1 Community-friendly events. Encourage, permit, and support community group, nonprofit, or business organized events on City property that support physical activity, beach culture, and family-friendly social interactions.
Goal 8. Special events at the beach are balanced to support community recreation and economic development without restricting coastal access or impacting the community.
Policies:
• 8.2. Off-peak season events. Incentivize event producers to host special events during off-peak seasons through reduced fees or accommodating location/reserved area preferences.
• 8.6. Special event impact fees. Require special event applicants pay a fair share of costs associated with impacts on City services and facilities required to support special events.
Fiscal Impact:
The fiscal impact associated with the recommended action is unknown since the 2022 Special Event Calendar continues to be developed and it is unknown at this time how many event producers intend to apply for this aid.
Attachments:
1. Special Events Policy Guide
2. Link to October 10, 2019 City Council Report
3. Link to October 12, 2021 City Council Report
Respectfully Submitted by: Lisa Nichols, Community Resources Manager
Noted for Fiscal Impact: Viki Copeland, Finance Director
Legal Review: Mike Jenkins, City Attorney
Approved: Suja Lowenthal, City Manager