Solvang
council mulls events costs
Solvang wants more time to decide who should pay when
special events cost the city money.
Public Works Director Tully Clifford brought up the
subject at the council’s July 14 meeting as a continuation of a discussion from
its June 25 meeting, during which a new process was proposed to collect costs
incurred by the city from event organizers.
Clifford noted that the city contributes a large number of
hours in the planning and implementation for events the city hosts. The city
currently charges $125 for an event permit, Clifford said, but costs incurred
by the city run $50 per hour, and some events take more than 40 hours of city
staff time for planning, traffic control, site plans, public notification, and
post-event evaluation.
Clifford said that planning for the Amgen Tour of
California and Danish Days took 42 and 44 hours of city time.
Discussion by the council members revolved around the
non-profit nature of the Rotary’s Independence Day parade, and the for-profit
Amgen Tour event.
Clifford said that some events cost more, because event
organizers do not provide enough volunteers. He said that the costs were twice
what they could have been if more volunteers had been provided by event
organizers for the Rancho Vistadores parade and the
Independence Day parade.
All members of the council agreed that certain events,
such as car shows, should be paying for the services that the city provides, as
those events are charging participants and are making a profit or some
revenue.
Former City Council member Leo Mathiasen
spoke in favor of exempting certain events from cost recovery that are
“signature” events for the city, including Danish Days, the Christmas Parade
and Rotary’s Independence Day parade. Council members Edwin Skytt
added that the Memorial Day parade also should be exempted, as it would be
appropriate for the city to contribute.
Paul Matthews, representing Solvang’s Rotary Club, noted
that the group provides the Independence Day parade and fireworks show to the
community as a “gift.”
The council decided to return the issue to staff for
additional study with the instructions to exempt Memorial Day events, Danish
Days, Christmas Parade, and Independence Day events from any cost recovery.
They will discuss cost recovery for the Rancho Vistadores event as “those guys have lots of money”
according to Mayor Linda Jackson.
Continuing a discussion from its June 9 meeting, the
council is considering adopting local code regulations concerning the
residences and certain activities of registered sex offenders.
The state currently has a number of regulations on
registered sex offenders and one of those regulations contains a provision that
allows cities to adopt their own more restrictive regulations.
The staff report to the council noted that there is no
clear appellate authority ruling that a city can adopt such regulations or that
the state has already fully “occupied” the law and that no such regulations can
be adopted.
The council agreed that the city should expand its
definition of “residence” to include other than just a single family home. In
state regulations a residence is defined as a single family home and the city
can expand that definition to include duplexes, apartments, and other types of
residences.
A modification to a Memorandum of Understanding between
the cities of Solvang, Buellton, Lompoc, and the County of Santa Barbara
regarding unmet transportation needs was approved by the council on a 5-0 vote.
The modification was related to the original MOU approved by the council on May
27 and noted the change that was requested by the City of Lompoc, indicating
that the participating partners may have to provide additional funding if a new
vehicle is required to provide the service.
The Solvang council heard a public request to have the
service extended from its terminus in Solvang to a turnaround at El Rancho
Market.
Paul Matthews spoke on behalf of Friendship House in
Solvang saying that the assisted living facility housing Alzheimer’s patients
is losing employees who primarily commute from Lompoc due to the continually
rising price of gasoline. He mentioned that the same problem is being
experienced by El Rancho Market.
Matthews asked that the service continue to the El Rancho
Market parking lot, where permission for a turnaround already has been secured
from the market owners.
City Manager Brad Vidro noted
that transfers are available to riders into Solvang and out to El Rancho Market
on the Santa Ynez Valley Transit bus.
The council adopted a series of three emergency operations
plans that bring it into conformity with federal and state requirements.
The plans were most recently revised
in 1993.