Opinion ID: 3037685
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Any activity or event on public property

Text: which requires the placement of a tent, canopy, or other temporary structure if that placement requires a permit from the City Fire Department or Building and Safety Division. SMMC § 4.68.040. As to subsection (a), the Instruction states that marches, processions, walks, runs, and assemblies on public sidewalks or park paths require a permit only if the event “is likely to . . . interfere with the free use of any public way by others . . . or not comply with traffic regulations.” Instruction at 23 (Section V(4)). Further, the Instruction sets out a “safe harbor” provision which establishes that a march, procession, walk, run, or assembly “will not interfere with the free use by others,” and does not require a permit, if the group consists of 500 or fewer people and the participants “[a]ssemble, march, walk, or run in groups of less than 50, 2 abreast (to create spacing between groups), and give way to others they encounter on the public way.” Id. To avail itself SANTA MONICA FOOD v. CITY OF SANTA MONICA 6657 of this safe harbor, the group must obey all traffic and park regulations and must not obstruct traffic flow. Id. As to subsection (b), the Instruction provides that “[f]or purposes of this subsection, any activity or event which the applicant intends to advertise in advance via radio, television and/or widely-distributed print media shall be deemed to be an activity or event of 150 or more persons” Id. at 5 (Section III(1)(b)). The Instruction separates events into three categories, which do not track precisely the categories in the Events Ordinance: Category 1, which encompasses non-expressive events, and Categories 2 and 3, which include all expressive events. Id. at 5-6 (Section III(2)(a)-(c)).4 Category 2 events are “[e]vents not included within Category 1 . . . but which require a permit from Building and Safety and/or the Fire Department.” Id. at 6 (Section III(2)(b)).5 Category 3 events are “[e]vents not included within Categories 1 and 2.” Id. (Section III(2)(c)). Category 2 events require, at a minimum, three business days advance application to obtain a permit; Category 3 events, those most central to this case, require at least two days advance application. Id. at 11-12 (Section 4 As provided by the Instruction, Category 1 events are those involving: recreation (e.g., games, arts [and] crafts activities, reunions, birthday parties, participatory dances)[;] competition/contests (e.g., surfing contests, sand castle building)[;] spectator sports (e.g., beach volleyball, hockey, basketball)[;] athletic events (e.g., races, runs)[;] circuses, fairs and carnivals (e.g., booths, games, rides and similar amusements)[;] food-related events (e.g., barbeques, cook-offs, picnics, food distribution, food festivals)[;] sales/ trade shows/business promotions (e.g., crafts shows, antique shows, merchandise sales or exhibits, product launches)[;] beach/ park clean-ups[; and] training activities (e.g., corporate sessions, team-building activities). Instruction at 5-6 (Section III(2)(a)). 5 Such permits may be required, for example, for an event involving temporary structures, open flames or candles, cooking, liquid petroleum gas, or pyrotechnics. Instruction at 28 (Section VII(4)). 6658 SANTA MONICA FOOD v. CITY OF SANTA MONICA IV(1)(b)-(c)). Under the Events Ordinance, a permit is not required for “[s]pontaneous events which are occasioned by news or affairs coming into public knowledge less than fortyeight hours prior to such event[s],” if such events are conducted on the lawn of City Hall. SMMC § 4.68.040(g). To receive a permit, one must submit an application that describes the event, the area, and the manner in which public property will be used and that also provides contact information for the event’s organizers. Id. § 4.68.050. The Events Ordinance directs that “the Community Events Committee shall issue” a permit if certain enumerated criteria are met. Id. § 4.68.060 (emphasis added). The ordinance also specifies the bases upon which a permit shall be denied or revoked. Id. § 4.68.070. As required by the ordinance, the Instruction also spells out the timing of the review process, establishing response times that depend upon when an application is submitted. Id. § 4.68.050(c); Instruction at 47-52 (Section X). For example, if an application for a Category 3 event is submitted between two and ten days prior to the proposed event, a decision on review must be given within two days of the submission. Instruction at 11-12 (Section IV(1)(c)), 51 (Section X). Any permit applicant aggrieved by an adverse decision may appeal to the Chairperson of the Community Events Committee within five business days of the decision; the Chairperson is directed to decide that appeal within one working day. SMMC § 4.68.090. The Events Ordinance imposes certain additional obligations on permittees. Under it, every permittee must execute an indemnification agreement with Santa Monica agreeing to “defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the City against losses and liabilities incurred from the conduct of the permittee or its officers, employees, and agents.” Id. § 4.68.110. Unless otherwise exempt — either because prohibited by law or pursuant to the regulations implementing Chapter 4.68 — each permittee must also obtain insurance “that the Risk Manager determines to be necessary and adequate under the circumstances.” SANTA MONICA FOOD v. CITY OF SANTA MONICA 6659 Id. § 4.68.120(a). The Instruction provides that organizers of expressive events who comply with the indemnification provision “will not be required to meet the insurance requirements . . . unless there is a specific, demonstrable history of personal injury or property damage claims being awarded against the applicant attributable to the applicant’s conduct of previous events in the City that are similar in nature to the proposed event.” Instruction at 35 (Section VII(14)(g)). Further, “[i]n addition to the payment of the non-refundable permit application fee and as detailed in the administrative guidelines . . . , a permittee shall pay the City for City departmental service charges incurred in connection with or due to the permittee’s activities under the permit.” SMMC § 4.68.140. The Instruction specifies how these departmental service charges are calculated. Instruction at 36-39 (Section VIII(1)). There is an indigency exception, with fairly complex requirements, to the application fee and service fee requirements, but not to the indemnification provision. SMMC §§ 4.68.080(b)-(c), 4.68.140(c)-(d), & 4.68.120. In the two years between the adoption of the present system and the summary judgment hearing, almost 190 permit applications were processed. According to the City, of the 190, only two such applications were denied.6