A game of musical ordinances

Less than a year after an ordinance to amend Saratoga Municipal Code regulating specially permitted events failed on first reading it appears changes may be coming yet again.

At the July 20 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Councilmember Jon Nelson discussed potential minor changes to Chapter 5.30. The apparent catalyst for those changes is The Yard, a music venue owned by Saratoga residents Cindy Bloomquist and Chris Shannon. Shannon, in recent meetings of the Saratoga Planning Commission, has taken issue with the code regulating specially permitted events and has argued it is an issue of zoning rather than special permitting.

“About a year ago, around the time of the event called ‘Pesto Festo’ I took a stab at trying to recommend some changes and drafted some changes to Chapter 5.30 which entails specially permitted events,” said Nelson. “Given the discussion that’s taken place since Friday, really, it seemed like there was an urgency to revisit that.”

The discussion referenced by Nelson appeared to be in regards to The WHAT Thing, an event held on July 24 and ultimately approved by the council on July 20. During the July 6 meeting of the governing body, Shannon had informed the council of a last minute music event scheduled for The Yard, but had not mentioned the nature of the event.

According to Nelson, he had revisited his notes surrounding the “Pesto Festo” ordinance, as it had been called, to propose some updated changes to the specially permitted events code.

“The changes that I’ve ended up making are fairly minor. I think the important thing to start out by saying is that the existing code already makes the distinction between what I’m calling major and minor events,” Nelson said. “It doesn’t call them that in the existing code but it talks about the path for a permit to be issued for events less than 50 people or 50 or more to be handled differently and there’s always been a provision in the code for events of 50 or less to be approved by the clerk without having to come before the council if the clerk deems there are no significant impacts to public welfare or safety or the event won’t create a situation that is disruptive.”

Indeed, section 5.30.010 of the Saratoga Municipal Code states that a special events permit may only be approved by majority vote of the council, “However, should the anticipated attendance at a specially permitted event be less than fifty persons, the application for a permit may be submitted to the Saratoga town clerk who shall provide the application to a town of Saratoga employee or employees, who have been designated by the Saratoga Town Council, to review and consider” approval of the permit.

According to Nelson, while he hadn’t changed that portion of the code, he had restructured the language to clarify the difference between major and minor events. What was not included in the currently proposed changes, but was included in the “Pesto Fest” ordinance of 2020, was the “Firewater Exemption”. This exemption, included due to outdoor music held at Firewater Public House, exempted music held on private property in the highway business or retail business districts for which a cover charge was not required for admission.

Another change, and one that came about due to recent discussions in the council chambers, was wording around overnight camping related to special events. Currently, 5.30.020(P) dictates overnight camping is only allowed in relation to bicycle tours and car or motorcycle rallies. It further dictates camping is only allowed on property owned by Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) at the discretion of the CCSD2 Board of Trustees.

While that language regarding CCSD2 property would be kept in the amended language, other camping exemptions would include; temporary recreational vehicle camping where permitted, within recreational vehicle parks, within designated areas of the Saratoga Lake Campground and other areas specifically permitted within the Town of Saratoga municipal code.

Additionally, overnight camping of not more than eight people and not to exceed three consecutive nights would be allowed on any lot or parcel located within a residential zone or district where a permanent water supply and sanitation facilities exist and are available for drinking, cooking and showering.

“Also in the existing code, as it reads currently, is that the council has discretion to apply additional conditions for approval of a special event permit. Those include requirements concerning area of assembly, requirements concerning a combination of pedestrian/vehicular traffic, requirements or provisions for first aid and sanitary facilities,” said Nelson. “None of that’s changed.”

Two requirements which would be included in the proposed rewrite, however, would be the inclusion of a police department and fire department presence at the discretion of the Saratoga Town Council.

Councilmember Ron Hutchins asked Nelson, should an event organizer go against town code and tell attendees camping was permissible, would the organizer be responsible or would the police department “have to go around trying to kick people off of private property.”

“That’s the part that concerns me because, at a minor scale, that’s already happened,” said Hutchins. “I’m wondering, should that be part of the permitting process, that whoever organizes that event should have the responsibility for controlling the crowds.”

Nelson responded it was his understanding the council could still require their concerns be addressed as a condition of the special event permit.

“I think it all speaks to the general concern for public welfare. Not only the welfare of the Saratoga public, but the welfare of the public that attends the event. I think our duty to try to establish a safe municipality extends to people who are here temporarily,” Nelson said. “If the permittee is intending to have camping as part of the event the council could put conditions on the approval of the permit that would require the applicant to make provisions to have safe camping with sanitary facilities and in a place where it’s not going to cause a public disturbance.”

No formal action was taken on the proposed changes, but an ordinance is expected to be presented at the next council meeting.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on August 3 at the Saratoga Town Hall.