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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
October 2, 2004 | |
Author: |
Muriel Honey | |
Phone No.: |
604-871-6447 | |
RTS No.: |
04426 | |
CC File No.: |
4201 | |
Meeting Date: |
October 21, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on Planning and Environment |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
2004 Additional Special Events |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the Burrard Street Route for the Santa Claus Parade on Sunday, November 21st 2004, subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable detailed arrangements.
B. THAT Council approve the closure of streets around Library Square to facilitate a First Night event on Friday, December 31st 2004, subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable detailed arrangements.
C. THAT Council approve the closure of portions of Granville Mall on Sunday, March 13th 2005 for the second annual CelticFest Vancouver Society's St. Patrick's Day Parade, subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable detailed arrangements.
D. THAT Council approve the closure of portions of Granville Mall on Saturday and Sunday, March 12th and 13th 2005, to enable the CelticFest Society to present a street fair; subject to FEST and the organizers working out acceptable detailed arrangements.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council approves special events that use City property, and events that could have an impact on the adjacent public.
In September 1984, Council approved a Special Events policy that all events except those deemed as civic 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.
In March 2004, Council adopted the following policy statement:
"Council welcomes celebrations, sporting events 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."
SUMMARY
The events noted above require the closure of significant portions of City streets, and as such require Council approval. Although preliminary discussions with the Festival Expediting Staff Team (FEST) have been held, and FEST partners believe the closures can be handled successfully, more detailed work will be undertaken only after Council approval is granted.
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 April 6th, 2004, and that need to be dealt with before the 2005 report.
BACKGROUND
In the last several years a growing number of individuals and organizations have been coming to the City seeking approval and support for bigger and more complex events. Film & Special Events Office staff have been working with other FEST partners, particularly those within the City, to streamline processes for approving these events, and have also revamped and increased the FEST offset to assist organizers of community events to offset the costs of City services. Staff are also in the process of re-writing the Special Events information package to make it easier for applicants to work their way through the various steps involved in getting approvals regarding health and building issues, fire safety and liquor licensing. The new package will be shown to Council with the 2005 Annual Special Event Report early in the new year.
In March of 2004, Council requested 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", following a report from the Vancouver Police Board on options to reduce police costs for events and for filming. Both those reports are expected before year end.
DISCUSSION
Santa Claus Parade - November 21st, 2004
The City was approached by the Rogers Group last spring about the idea of presenting a Santa Claus Parade in downtown Vancouver. After preliminary discussions with the Mayor an announcement was made on June 17th 2004, and FEST began meeting with the proponents on a detailed plan to present to Council for approval. Although the initial announcement mentioned Georgia Street as the route for the parade, further consultation with senior City staff and Coast Mountain Bus Company led to a change in the suggested route. The proposal currently before Council would see the parade start on Burrard at Drake Street, travel north on Burrard to Georgia, turn east, past a reviewing stand at the Art Gallery to disperse on Howe Street. A map (Appendix A) outlines the route and the marshalling and dispersal areas.
Burrard Street has historically been considered the City's ceremonial street as its width, better site lines and limited bus traffic make it a good choice for this type of event. Even more significantly, there are many transit routes that go either along or across Georgia Street, and rerouting all of them would be problematic. The bus service on Burrard is much easier to divert, both because that route uses diesel buses and because the service is much less frequent than that on Granville.
Churches on the route have expressed concerns about the parade, and it could also create access problems for other businesses and services in the area. A change in the proposed start time to 11:30 from 11am should address most of the churches concerns about their congregations getting into their facilities before the parade starts, and FEST would work with the organizers on mitigating any noise issues as the parade passes the churches. Any later start time could have more detrimental impacts on downtown traffic that increases as the day progresses. There are still concerns to work out regarding access to hotels, St. Paul's Hospital and other businesses in the downtown core, but if Council approves the event the organizers will continue to working closely with the DVBIA, the Vancouver Hotel Association and other groups to deal with any issues that arise. The overall response from the public to the idea of a Santa Claus parade has been very positive.
First Night - Friday, December 31st, 2004
There was a great deal of disappointment expressed by the public when CMHC withdrew its sponsorship of First Night on Granville Island last Fall, and in spite of attempts by the Celebrate Vancouver Society to move the event to a downtown location there was not enough time to put together a viable plan, and the event was not held last year. This year, the Society is proposing an event to take place at Library Square, the CBC and the Queen Elizabeth Plaza, as well as on surrounding streets. Most of the venues are indoors, however there will be tented exterior sites as well, necessitating full or partial closures of Homer, Hamilton, Cambie, Georgia and Robson Streets. FEST will continue to work with the Celebrate Vancouver Society on this family oriented alcohol free New Year's celebration, once Council has formally approved the road closures involved.
St. Patrick's Day Parade & CelticFest Street Fair, March 12th &13th, 2005
One World Arts Productions presented a Celtic Heritage Festival (St. Patrick's Day) Parade on Granville Mall on March 14th, 2004. Because of a very short lead-time staff were unable to bring the event to Council with the annual Special Event Report, and instead sent a memo to Mayor and Council soliciting feedback. With no negative responses from Council, and the agreement of FEST, the event was approved directly by the Deputy City Engineer. The organizers worked very closely with the DVBIA, and aside from a green line down the middle of Granville Mall that has still not been removed, the event was a great success, and very positively received by merchants on the mall and the general public. This year the organizers formed the CelticFest Vancouver Society, and have submitted an application for both a parade and a two-day Street Fair. FEST supports the parade application, which involves some revisions to last year's plan, including changes to the marshalling and dispersal areas and the parade route itself, although it would still be on Granville Mall. If Council approval is granted, FEST would continue to discuss the proposed changes with the organizers.
The CelticFest Street Fair, on the other hand, is a new event, with considerably more impact. Closing the major north-south transportation route in the City will impact Coast Mountain Bus Company operations throughout the city, and to a lesser extent into the suburbs. Although a weekend event is less problematic than a weekday one, it is more difficult to deal with than the short term Sunday morning St. Patrick's Day Parade in the same area. The Street Fair would require a longer closure, with set up and take down before and after the event resulting in a total closure of the Mall from approximately 10am until 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday. On a positive note, the organizers this year are suggesting a one-block closure only, from Smithe to Nelson Street. Although buses would be diverted from the Mall along either Seymour or Howe Streets from Granville Bridge to Robson Street, Coast Mountain Bus Company representatives on FEST are confident the reroute would be manageable, and other traffic (taxis, deliveries etc) would be less disrupted than during the parade. If Council approves this event staff will work closely with the event organizers, Traffic Management staff and Coast Mountain Bus Company to ensure that both the street closure and alternate traffic routes are well publicized.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no significant environmental implications; however, closing down a portion of City streets for even just a short period of time sends an important message to the public that we value alternative uses for public spaces, and that we encourage people to get out of their vehicles to enjoy street-based events.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Events held mainly on open public spaces allow all our citizens to participate in events. This sends an important message about equality and connectivity, and is consistent with Council's policy to encourage public participation in events.
COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
All event organizers are required to inform the public of the impacts of their events on surrounding neighbourhoods. Sometimes a media/pr campaign is relied upon to `get the message out'; in other cases a specific notification plan is needed. In the case of the Santa Claus Parade a mail drop was done to all homes and businesses that would be directly impacted by the parade, soliciting responses that will be dealt with by the organizers and FEST, if Council approves it. First Night would probably require a similar notification process, while the CelticFest events would likely be dealt with mainly through the DVBIA's Granville Mall sub-committee as well as advance warning signs posted by City Engineering staff, given the special nature of the street.
CONCLUSION
The Special Events Office has received these significant new event applications since our annual report to Council in April, all of which need consideration now so that planning can proceed in a timely manner. City staff and our FEST partners will work proactively with the organizers to ensure that public safety issues are addressed and that impacts on citizens who do not choose to participate are managed. Staff are recommending Council approve the additional 2004 Special Events A to C included in this report, and ask for Council's consideration of item D.
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