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CITY OF VANCOUVER POLICY REPORT
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Date: |
January 26, 2004 | |
Author: |
M. Honey | |
Phone No.: |
6447 | |
RTS No.: |
03468 | |
CC File No.: |
4200 | |
Meeting Date: |
March 11, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on Planning and Environment |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services, in Consultation with the Director of Development Services, the Chief Building Official, Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Chief Constable. |
SUBJECT: |
Special Events Policies and Procedures |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council demonstrate the City's leadership in supporting celebrations and special events by adopting the following policy statement:
"Council welcomes celebrations and special events for their contribution in making Vancouver a vibrant City, in reflecting our cultural diversity and neighbourhood character, and for the economic, cultural and recreational benefits they bring to the City. Council supports the facilitation of these events by staff, encourages mitigation of short-term disruptions in neighbourhoods and encourages citizens to welcome these activities and to participate in them."
B. THAT the Directors of Planning, Development Services, and Licenses and Inspections, along with the Chief Building Official, review present processes for dealing with special event applications related to development and building permit requirements, with an aim to simplifying processes to reflect the temporary nature of these events and report back to Council in 2004.
C. THAT the Chief Building Official report back to Council in 2004, on proposed changes to the City's Building Bylaw to revise the size of tents that can be erected without an engineering inspection; and to establish an annual approval process ("Certified Tent Program") for tent rental companies to eliminate the need for event organizers to obtain permits for tents with an area of the order of 40m2 (430 ft.2) or less.
D. THAT the street banner regulations be amended;
i) so no additional application or rental fees are charged to not-for-profit community events that acknowledge corporate sponsorship on their street banners.
ii) to allow special event organizers to erect signs across streets for a short term preceding and during their events, provided the design and installation are approved by the City Engineer, and provided the event organizer has received permission from the FEST Committee to do so.
E. THAT offsets for the cost of police services to special events, currently administered through the Police Budget, become the responsibility of Film the Special Events Office; and that the amount available for offsets be increased from $500 to up to $1000 of City services for events that qualify; and that criteria for these service cost offsets be revised so that only not-for-profit community-based events are eligible, with specific eligibility guidelines to be developed by City representatives on FEST. Funding of $30,000 for 2004 to be added to the 2004 Engineering (Film and Special Events Office) Operating Budget without offset.
F. That funding for a vacant Engineering Assistant Ill position in the Film and Special Events Office be re-instated, subject to classification and review by the General Manager of Human Resources, at a net cost of $35,000 in 2004 and $52,000 on-going; 2004 funding to be provided from Contingency Reserve.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager notes that the issues identified in this report are extremely important and need to be resolved as soon as possible to facilitate special events and festivals in the city. It should be noted also that many of the issues related to costs and streamlining processes are equally as important to the Film Industry and of increasing interest, for staging events, both sport and cultural prior to and during the 2010 Olympics. Staff will keep these issues in mind when recommending improvements.
There are always concerns about the cost of providing City services to support events and which events should be designated "Civic Events" and have the City costs covered within City budgets. Over the years the issue most hotly debated has been the cost of policing. There is no question that adequate policing is necessary, particularly when events attract large crowds.
The issue is the hourly cost of police, on overtime or regular time rates, and the extent of impact area for which policing costs are charged. Small events are isolated and cause little impact. However, events such as the Celebration of Light, Marathon, Sun Run, Chinese New Year Parade, Pride Parade, Vaisakhi Parade, and Canada Day, to name a few, create impacts over a broader area which naturally increases cost, but these are also significant community events.
Unfortunately, when the cost to put on events increases dramatically some events end up being cancelled. This has occurred over the years, and is certainly not a desired outcome and solutions are needed.
The City Manager believes that further consideration needs to be given to designating more events as "Civic Events" with City costs covered. In addition, Departments need to develop ways to accommodate the cost of these events within normal budgets.
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of Recommendations A, B, C, D, E and F contained in the report. In addition, the City Manager RECOMMENDS also the following Recommendations G and H.
G. THAT the Vancouver Police Board be asked for a report, before August 2004, on options to reduce Police costs for events and for filming including reducing overtime costs, alternatives to traffic control by sworn Constables, but including consideration of Police Traffic Authority, licensed Traffic Controllers such as those used on-street at construction sites, and trained volunteers.
H. THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services and Director of Office of Cultural Affairs report back with suggestions for a list of Civic Events and the budget requirements to support the events, which incorporates any changes suggested in the report in Recommendation G.
COUNCIL POLICY
In a September 1984 Policy Review, Council approved a special events policy that all events except those deemed as civic sponsored events be charged the costs of providing police services, and recommended that direct Engineering costs continue to be billed to event organizers, while the administrative cost of coordinating these events continues to be funded from general revenues.
In a September 1999 Policy Report, Council approved a $200 application fee and a $20 per banner per month rental fee for banners with a commercial content and/or logo hung in the street right-of-way, with an exception that the fees would be reduced by 50% for not-for-profit groups.
Council provides grants for the first $500 of police services to non-profit special events, subject to their having been approved by the FEST Committee. This program is administered by the Police Department and in the year 2002 cost less than $20,000.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to address issues raised in an October 2002 report on City support for Festivals and Celebrations, including Council's motion
"that staff consult with representatives from the Festival community about advice on streamlining costs and permitting issues; and that staff investigate alternatives to using sworn police constables for traffic control for street festivals and parades, including those alternatives that might require amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act."
This followed a March 2001 report that directed staff to review existing policy and practice with respect to "civic" events as well as annual and other special events, and report back with policy options and budget implications. Today's report submits for Council's approval a number of significant changes to the way special events are dealt with by City staff, with a goal to streamline the special event application process and encourage individuals, community groups, not for profit organizations, the corporate sector and the general public to become more involved in events that occur in our City.
BACKGROUND
In the summer of 2000 there were concerns that Vancouver was going to lose not only the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA team, but also the Molson Indy and the Symphony of Fire Fireworks Festival. The Board of Trade formed a "Spirit of Vancouver" Committee, and a sub-committee on Rules and Regulations, to assess the City's attitude toward events. The Special Events Office, Cultural Affairs, the Vancouver Police Department and the Park Board all worked with the sub-committee and a number of representative event organizers to assess the City's role. Event organizers felt that the City could do more to help encourage a variety of events - everything from endorsing the general idea of special events and encouraging neighbourhood support for them, to streamlining processes for various City permits and approvals required for events. They also suggested that the City investigate ways of lessening the financial burden to event organizers for City services, like policing, sanitation and traffic operations.
A Council workshop on special events in May 2003 outlined some of the more specific City issues involved, and a facilitated workshop in June with senior festival and event community members (Jazz Festival, Folk Fest and Children's Festival etc.) looked not only at specific permitting and cost issues, but also at the "bigger picture" issues. These included developing civic pride and a welcoming attitude toward events, long term planning of public spaces, parks and even city streets to anticipate and facilitate festivals and events in them, and the sharing of common resources in a cooperative facility. Workshop participants felt that the City could help by revising some of the more onerous permitting and regulatory requirements, harmonizing processes between the departments, and by dedicating staff time and resources to assisting event organizers "through the process". Participants also looked at ways they could work more cooperatively through shared space and resources, cooperative marketing programs and long-term planning to enhance the festival and event experience.
DISCUSSION
The following sections refer to each of the recommendations of this report.
A. Council Endorsement of Special Events
In the most recent workshop with event organizers, they emphasized that a statement from Council endorsing the general idea of festivals and events would have two-fold benefits. Not only would it give event organizers added confidence in dealing with local neighbourhood issues that might arise in event planning, but it would also set the tone for a more proactive and welcoming attitude by City staff to special event applicants. Previous Councils were supportive of events, but there has never been a specific or general policy statement endorsing them. Although there are some negative impacts on individuals and neighbourhoods where special events occur, most people accept that occasional disturbances are inevitable when living in a vibrant city, and staff make every effort to address specific concerns and mitigate disruption. Adoption of recommendation A would send a clear message of support for special event organizers and City staff.
B. Development and Building Permits for Special Events
Over the last number of years numerous regulatory layers have been added to the City's by-laws to ensure public safety at event sites. Although there is no desire on the part of staff or event organizers to compromise safety, there is a real need to recognize the temporary nature of events and manage their risk accordingly. It is important to ensure that the City's regulatory processes are not prohibitively time-consuming, expensive, or difficult to understand, otherwise event organizers may sidestep City processes and expose the public to greater risks.
Preliminary discussions with City staff indicate that a coordinated review of the City's development and building permit requirements for special event applications is required. This should be undertaken by Planning, Development Services, Licenses and Inspections, and the Chief Building Official, with the goal of reporting back to Council in 2004.
C. Certified Tent Program
At workshops, in Spirit of Vancouver consultations, and in dealing with event organizers on a regular basis, concerns about regulations and permits required to erect small canopy-style tents have been recurring. Current City policy is that any tent larger than 10' x 10' that is used at a public event requires a development and building permit, including floor plan drawings, site plan drawings, a structural letter of assurance and a letter of affirmation about the fire retardant specifications of the tent material. This process can take up to two weeks, and the structural letter of assurance from a professional engineer routinely costs several hundred dollars. In response to these concerns, building staff have reviewed the bylaw requirements as well as practices in other cities and are recommending that they report back with specific bylaw changes that will simplify the approval process for most special event tents.
D. Street Banners, Signage and Regulatory Process
Securing corporate sponsorship for major events and festivals is a critical component of any event plan. Public recognition of corporate donors is one of the cornerstones of promotional support. Current City regulations regarding the placement of banners and signs on City streets make it costly for event planners to acknowledge corporate support. Although the City gives not-for-profit events and organizations a 50% fee reduction ($100 application fee and $10 per banner per month rental fee), it is still a significant cost to them.
Given the short time that most event banners are up, and the expense involved in producing and installing them, only the major annual festivals with corporate sponsorship dollars usually consider banners as part of their promotion. The Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, for example, would like to use the name Alcan on their street banners, but to do so would cost them several hundred dollars more in fees, which they consider prohibitive. By waiving the fees totally for not-for-profit City endorsed special events Council would be encouraging more corporate support for events.
The impacts of this proposed change on revenues to the City would be negligible, since few event organizers presently use the banner program. The only revenues collected since the fee program was implemented were approximately $15,000 in 2000 from the World Figure Skating Championships, and $2600 in 2003 from the Adidas Vancouver International Marathon. The 1999 "Street Banner Policy" report granted the General Manager of Engineering Services the authority to approve sponsors, overall banner design, commercial content of the banners, and the duration that the banners remain on the street. The sponsor's logo or text is not to exceed 20% of the banner space. These policies would remain in place to ensure appropriate use of the public right-of-way.
City regulations regarding signs make it difficult for event organizers to publicize events on a short-term basis. Banners and signs hung across streets from utility poles are currently not allowed, and the Sign Bylaw does not differentiate between temporary and permanent signs, requiring sign permits and/or building permits in order to hang temporary signs.
The Gastown Business Improvement Society and organizers of events like the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Steamworks Tour de Gastown would like to promote their events with signs across Water Street - but find the process too onerous, even though professionally installed and certified hardware is in place for signs to hang across the street (allowed when the road is closed on event day). For new events like the Pride Society's Davie Village Street Fair, street signs would not only help promote the event and encourage participants, but also alert the neighbourhood and people who use Davie Street as a traffic route that the area will be the site of a major event.
For safety reasons, the design and installation of banners across streets, whether they be secured to utility poles or to buildings, must be approved by the City Engineer. Subject to such approval, and to approval by the FEST Committee, it is recommended that special event banners and signs be allowed to cross City streets in advance of the dates of the events, and that staff review the process for dealing with applications for temporary signs.
E. FEST Policing Grant/offset
For more than 20 years the FEST `grant' has helped offset the cost of policing for special events. Without any complicated application process or eligibility requirements, the first $500 of policing costs for special events that require a police presence is absorbed by the Police Department. In 2003, FEST offsets for the approximately 45 events that qualified amounted to $22,692.
The amount of the FEST offset has not increased in 20 years, although costs for City services have. As well, the offset only applied to police costs, not to other City services. Increasing the offset from $500 to $1,000 and applying it towards any city costs would appropriately reflect the changes in event costs over that period. Over the last few years, the number of commercial and corporate events has increased, and under current criteria, these events also qualify for FEST offsets. By limiting the subsidy to not-for-profit community-based events the increased amount would be partially offset by fewer eligible events. Parades receiving funds for City services through the Celebrations Grants program would not be eligible for a FEST subsidy. The total amount of these service subsidies would be reported in the Annual Special Events Report. Funding of $30,000 would be provided in the Engineering (Film and Special Events Office) budget, with no offsets.
F. Special Events Staffing
During consultations with the festivals and events community, a frequent message was the need for a dedicated staff person to "champion" events through the City's processes. At present, responsibilities for handling special events are shared by the Manager and three staff in the Film and Special Events Office who spend much of their time managing film industry activity. One Engineering Assistant (EAIII) chairs the FEST Committee and supervises the part-time work of a Clerk II and an auxiliary staff person. Approximately one-third of the Manager's time, one-half of the EAIII's time and one-third of the Clerk II's time is taken up with special events. Interest in organizing and presenting special events has increased in the last number of years, and the complexity of dealing with environmental, traffic, health and safety issues related to the film and event business has increased as well, adding significantly to the work load in the Film and Special Events Office. There is a need for more staff time dedicated to assisting event organizers, to provide a better level of service to event organizers, assisting them through the necessary approvals from City and outside agencies and coordinating those services for events, and to work on improving the City's event approval processes. We also need to increase the resources available to provide timely responses to enquiries and complaints about events from neighbours and the general public, and provide regular updates to the City's related web pages.
There is an existing, vacant, Engineering Assistant position in the Filming and Special Events Office which has not been filled since the creation of the Manager's position in April, 2000. Given the demand for a higher level of service to special event organizers this position is now needed and the funding to fill it has been included in the 2004 Operating Budget.
Policing of Events
In October 2002, Council requested that staff investigate alternatives to using sworn police constables for traffic control for street festivals and parades. The Police department advises that it is in fact infrequent that sworn officers are used for traffic control at street festivals and parades. Police advise that they currently employ a range of traffic control options at street festivals and parades. Members of the Traffic Authority (formerly the Reserve Police) police the majority of these events. These members are designated as Special Constables, however they are billed at straight time on a rate significantly reduced from that of the sworn Constables. Many events also utilize civilian volunteers, often trained by the Police, to assist with traffic control at barricades and direction of event participants, thus again reducing the cost to event organizers. Sworn officers are only assigned to special events where there is a requirement for enforcement of the various statutes and where there is an increased risk of disorder or criminality.
Special Events Information
The information currently available to event organizers, in printed form or on the Special Event website, is very similar to what we have been providing for more than 20 years. It is utilitarian but uninspiring, and lacks some of the specific and detailed information that would enable event organizers to progress more quickly through the City's processes. Although a new on-line application has recently been instituted, feedback from event organizers indicates that a totally new information package is needed - one that gives more detailed information about the process and steps involved in contacting the relevant City departments and outside agencies, and simplifies those processes wherever possible. A new website would also better serve our customers with direct links to information from our FEST partners.
Communication and IT staff estimate a cost of approximately $20,000 to design and produce new information and application packages and brochures; and to develop a new interactive web page. On line information, and brochures available at library branches, community centres and other City facilities will be produced. Regular updates that reflect process improvements will also be required by the special events EAIII with the assistance of departmental internet coordinators. Funding for this work is available within the Engineering Services budgets for website development and maintenance, and publications. Work on these items will be a first priority for the additional staff member described above.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The celebration and festival proposals in this report will result in $70,800 of on-going expenditures and $20,000 of one-time expenditures, summarized as follows:
· Banner Program - Revenue losses from changes to the Banner Program would be minimal, as very few not-for-profit special event organizers use the banner program.
· Staff position in the Special Events Office - staffing costs of $35,000 for 2004 are to be provided from Contingency Reserve; ongoing funding of $52,000 per year to be included in Engineering Operating budget.
· Special Events Application package and web-site - a one time cost of approximately $20,000 from existing funding within the Engineering Services Budget.
· FEST Offset- the increase in the offset to up to $1000 from $500 will increase the cost for the program, however, the change in criteria for receiving it should result in only a small increase to the 2004 Budget. In 2003 the total FEST offset disbursement, including costs for policing events in Parks, was $22,691, therefore, it is recommended that $30,000 be added to the Engineering (Film and Special Events Office) budget without offset.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
Filling the vacant Engineering Assistant position in the Special Events office will require a classification review by Human Resources. This position will have a different role than when it was previously occupied.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Special Events and Festivals enrich and enliven life in the City. The Council policy statement, the streamlining of approval processes, the facilitation of sponsorship opportunities, the improved level of service, and the ongoing efforts to find ways of reducing City costs recommended in this report will all help to encourage new events and to support the many special events that are already part of the yearly calendar.
CONCLUSION
Although the FEST process has proven to be helpful to organizers who are planning major events on City streets and public property, recent consultation with event organizers, Council, and various City departments has identified several recommended changes. These changes would lower costs, simplify planning and approvals, and generally facilitate and encourage special events in Vancouver. Through these initiatives, Council is sending a clear message to all event organizers and the public that the City is supportive of events, and that we invite both our citizens and visitors to explore and celebrate our cultural diversity, dynamic environment and community spirit.
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