Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: June 6, 2003
Author/Local: M. Honey/604-871-6447
RTS No. 03411
CC File No. 4201
Meeting Date: June 26, 2003
TO: |
Standing Committee on Planning & Environment |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
Approval of Additional 2003 Special Events |
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RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the the Davie Village Street Fair on Sunday, August 3rd, 2003 subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable arrangements.
B. THAT Council approve `Italian Day on Commercial Drive' on Saturday, August 10th, 2003 subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable arrangements.
D. THAT Council approve the Chinese Freemasons' 140th Year Celebration Parade on Sunday, August 31st, 2003; subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable arrangements.
F. THAT Council not approve the Burrard Bridge Festival on Sunday, August 31st, 2003.
CONSIDERATION
G. THAT Council approve, in principle, a 2004 Burrard Bridge Festival, subject to the organizers showing capability for payment of City costs and demonstrating broad-based community support for the event; with the Festival included in the Annual Special Events Report to Council early next year.
COUNCIL POLICY
FEST obtains Council approval annually for the anticipated special events that use City property, or where the event could have an impact on the adjacent public.
In a September 1984 Policy Review, Council approved a Special Events policy that all events except those deemed as civic sponsored events be charged costs of providing police services, and recommended that direct Engineering costs continue to be billed to event organizers, while administrative costs continue to be funded from general revenues.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to submit for Council approval a number of significant event applications that have been received since the Annual Special Events Report was presented to Council on March 11th, 2003.
BACKGROUND
The City requires that anyone planning an event on City property, including streets, sidewalks and other public space, seek permission from the City Engineer to hold the event. Although final approval for all events comes from Council the vast majority of the applications are dealt with at a staff level; only events that have a significant impact on specific neighbourhoods or the City as a whole are brought to Council's individual attention for approval.
FEST (Festival Expediting Staff Team) is a multi-jurisdictional committee of special events service providers (Transit, BC Ambulance, Police, Parks, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority etc.) that helps event organizers identify and address neighbourhood impacts, traffic disruptions, noise issues and health and safety concerns. The Special Events Office, in the Projects Branch of Engineering Services, coordinates the delivery of City and related services, and chairs FEST.
City costs (signage, barricades, sanitation, policing, etc.) and outside agency costs (Transit re-routing, Ambulance Service attendance) associated with each event are identified and the amount to be charged to organizers is estimated. Event organizers must demonstrate that they have adequate insurance coverage for events on City property, and submit a deposit in advance of the event to cover estimated City costs. A letter of permission is then issued to the organizers.
Some financial assistance is available to event organizers. A sum up to $500 is available through the police budget to help cover the cost of policing services for events.
There are several significant new events for which we seek Council direction, and one on-going event with a specific request to bring to Council's attention for approval.
Davie Street Village Fair (Sunday, August 3rd, 2003)
The Vancouver Pride Society is requesting the closure of a portion of Davie Street between Jervis and Thurlow for a street party as part of the 25th Anniversary of the Pride Festival. The event would follow the Pride Parade, and complement the Pride Parade Festival (at Sunset Beach) with entertainment, an art show and cultural exhibits. An application for a Public Special Occasion Liquor License for a beer garden has been submitted to the BC Liquor Licensing Branch, and FEST partners have approved the event plan. Davie Street would be closed from 3pm until 9pm for set-up and take down of the site; the street party would take place from 4pm until 8pm. This event is anticipated to be a significant fund-raiser for the Society, and would assist in covering costs of the Parade and other free events.
Italian Day on Commercial Drive (Saturday, August 10th, 2003)
The Commercial Drive Business Improvement Society is requesting the closure of a portion of Commercial Drive between 1st Avenue and Venables Street for a celebration of the roots of the area by focusing on the culture, music and food of Italy. The planning for this event is still in the preliminary stages; organizers have not yet determined the extent of participation or the footprint of the closure area. FEST has had one introductory meeting with the event organizers, and will continue to work with them on a more detailed plan in the coming weeks, once Council has approved the event in principle.
Steamworks Concourse d'Elegance (Saturday-Sunday, August 30th & 31 st, 2003)
This Gastown event has two components - a one-day free public showing of rare classic cars on Saturday, August 30th, 2003 and a classic car parade through the streets of Vancouver on Sunday, August 31st, 2003. It is also a prostrate cancer awareness event - and a free prostate-cancer-screening clinic will be set up in the atrium of The Landing during the event. The applicant has asked that Water Street be closed between Carrall Street and Richards Street from 8am until 5pm on Saturday, August 30th, 2003. Approximately 75 classic cars will be on display from 10am till 4pm. On Sunday, August 31st, , 2003 a smaller number of cars will parade through the streets of the City on an as-yet-undetermined route. FEST will continue to work with the organizers on parade details.
The Chinese Freemasons of Vancouver 140th Year Celebration (Sunday, August 31st)
2003 marks the 140th anniversary of the Chinese Freemasons in Vancouver, and to celebrate, the applicants are requesting a closure of several blocks of Pender Street, Gore, Keefer and Quebec Streets from noon until approximately 3pm on Sunday, August 31st for a parade. More than 35 organizations and 1,000 participants are expected to join in the festivities. The route is similar to one used annually for the Chinatown Spring Parade, and FEST partners have met with the organizers and approved the plan in principle.
Sun Run Route (Sunday, April 18th, 2004)
In 2002 Council approved a major change to the Sun Run route, brought about by the S-curve construction on Georgia Street and changes to the roadway through part of Stanley Park. The `new' route took the 45,000+ runners southbound over Burrard Bridge and eastbound on 6th Avenue to the Cambie Bridge, rather than staying on the downtown peninsula and travelling eastbound along Pacific Boulevard. The route proved more popular for the runners and less disruptive to the 7500 residents who live on the north shore of False Creek. Unfortunately, because of a lack of good communication with Granville Island merchants and residents of the south-east shore of False Creek there were major problems for people trying to access that area on the Sunday morning of the Run.
In 2003 the Sun Run team and FEST representatives met with the Granville Island Business and Community Association and worked on a marketing and communication plan to let both workers and visitors to Granville Island know of an alternate access plan to the Island. A vehicle-access route to the Island was established via Commodore Road, under the Cambie Bridge, and volunteers from the Downtown Historic Railway ran TRAMS service from a special parking lot set up at the City-owned lot at the foot of Ontario Street, as well as from Science World. (see map Appendix A)
In spite of these efforts Granville Island merchants reported a drop in business on the morning of the Run, and have asked FEST to re-consider this route. After discussion with the organizers and other FEST partners we agree that, although there are impacts on the businesses on Granville Island, this route is the best one for many other reasons. The original route is no longer practical because of roadway changes in Stanley Park; and any other route option would result in significant impacts to other areas. Keeping the route totally in the downtown core would cut off a large area completely for a longer period of time. As the event grows (it is currently the second largest run of its kind in the world, with
50,000 participants anticipated for the April 18th, 2004 event) this is a significant factor in determining the best route. Because of the lead-time needed to plan and market an event of this magnitude, the Sun Run has asked the City to approve the 2002-2003 route as the long-term route for the Sun Run at this time.
Burrard Bridge Festival (Sunday, August 31st, 2003)
The Locomotion Observing Visionary Empowerment (LOVE) Co-Op has applied to the City to hold a Burrard Bridge Festival on Sunday, August 31st, with a goal to advance local people's involvement in human-powered technologies. The request was for a full-closure of the Burrard Bridge from 10am until 5pm on the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend to allow for various demonstrations of pedal-powered machines, street theatre and bike-art, as well as an enviro-food component. FEST has met with the organizers on several occasions to refine the plan, and still have concerns about it. These include unacceptable traffic impacts on this significant traffic corridor, the lack of a comprehensive budget or demonstrated financial support necessary to both promote the event and facilitate it safely and the lack of evidence of broad-based support for the event from other bicycling advocacy organizations or the general public.
If approval is not given at this time, Council might wish to consider giving the organizers approval in principle for a 2004 event, to allow them more time to develop fund-raising opportunities and to encourage more broad-based support from the cycling community.
CONCLUSION
The Special Events Office has received five significant new event applications since our annual report to Council in March, including several that will hopefully become annual events in neighbourhoods as diverse as Gastown, Commercial Drive and Davie Village. City staff and our FEST partners work proactively to ensure that public safety issues are addressed and that impacts on citizens who do not choose to participate are managed. We are in the midst of another busy special event season in all areas of the City. We RECOMMEND that Council approve the 2003 Special Events A to E included in this report, and that Council not approve the Burrard Bridge Festival for 2003, as per Recommendation F, for the reasons outlined above.
Item G is submitted for Council's CONSIDERATION if Council wishes to indicate support for such an event once the proposal is better developed and more broadly supported.
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