SR-032508-7G~~~
~;~YO, City Council Report
Santa Monica
City Council Meeting: March 25, 2008
Agenda Item: _~~
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Barbara Stinchfield, Director, Community & Cultural Services
Subject: Glow Festival Permitting
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the proposed temporary ordinance to
cover permitting and other issues associated with the production of the first Glow
festival.
Executive Summary
Glow, is a dusk to dawn arts festival that will take place on the beach and Pier in Santa
Monica. Glow will consist of a number of temporary site specific art installations and
performances by local and international artists. The project grew out of the community
input process surrounding Creative Capital, the City's adopted cultural plan. Glow will
be produced by the City in partnership with the Pier Restoration Corporation, the
Convention and Visitors Bureau and Bayside, with public and private sector funding.
Part of the premise of Glow is the unique beach front setting and a tribute to the
grunion, a fish that lives in local waters and comes up to the beach to spawn creating a
momentary `glow'. Glow is scheduled for July 19, 2008 and will be free to the public.
There is no existing mechanism to permit such a large and multi-faceted City event. For
the last few months a team of representatives from all affected departments, as well as
the partner agencies, has been meeting to discuss the logistics .associated with the
production of such an event and concluded that the best approach was to develop a
temporary ordinance that would suspend specific regulations in the affected area for
one night.
Background
Glow grew out of community demand for a signature cultural event, one that would be
specific to Santa Monica and that would draw international attention, enhancing the
city's reputation as a destination for cultural tourism and showcasing its vibrant creative
sector. Development of the event was one of the recommendations of the adopted
community cultural plan as well as a specific objective of the Department's FY 07/08
budget and work plan.
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Discussion
Glow will take place on July 19Th 2008, from 7 pm to 7 am, on the Pier, the beach and
parking lots adjacent to the Pier, as well as Palisades Park and Ocean Avenue between
Colorado and Santa Monica Boulevards (art site map -Attachment 1). Each work of art
will be created specifically for Glow and for the location in which the art is sited. For
example artist Shih Chieh Huang is proposing. to create a luminescent animated
installation for the bike path under the pier and a group of artists and composers have
developed an environmental soundscape for the Carousel. The event will be
choreographed to ensure that some experiences are continuous and others happen at
specific moments throughout the night. Response to Glow has been overwhelmingly
positive with individuals, private foundations and corporations helping to underwrite
close to half of the cost of this groundbreaking event. Funders cite the innovative
nature of the festival, the caliber of the artists involved as well as broad public access as
some of the reasons for their participation and support.
The logistics surrounding the production of each of the artworks, as well as the overall
event are challenging. Glow's success will rest not only on the quality of the art but in
ensuring that participants- have a positive experience and that impacts on the host
facilities are minimal and remedied as quickly as possible. Issues of public safety and
crowd management are being addressed by a special interdepartmental task force that
has been meeting monthly to identify concerns and formulate solutions.
Representatives of our partner organizations, the Pier, CVB and Bayside have also
been attending the planning meetings. Each artists proposal will go through a rigorous
review process after being chosen by the artist selection committee, including submittal
to Risk Management and other affected departments or agencies for review and
comment.
Attendance at Glow is estimated at 25,000 during the course of the night. In order to
ensure that participants in the event have access to necessary services and amenities,
and local businesses are given an opportunity to participate, a number of regulations
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will need to be suspended for the evening, these range from local ordinances to policies
that regulate the use of public space and cover a range of items from the use of parking
structures to the hours of operation of local restaurants. The area encompassed by this
ordinance is slightly more expansive than the Glow festival area and is defined in the
ordinance and in the map that is Attachment B of the ordinance.
Glow is envisioned as a biannual event that could in future years expand to encompass
more of the key public destinations in Santa Monica. For example representatives of
the Ocean Park Association and the Main Street Merchants inquired about including
Main Street in future Glow festivals.
Commission Action
The Arts Commission is in full support of Glow and took action to allocate funds for the
event as part of last year's public art budget approval process on June 18th, 2007.
Alternatives
Council could request changes to the proposed ordinance or could decline to resolve
the permitting issues in this manner. If this were the case, staff would need to pursue
an alternative to allow Glow to take place, perhaps in a more circumscribed manner or
set of venues. Depending on the specific nature of any prescribed limitations, funding
received by the Santa Monica Arts Foundation for Glow might have to be returned.
Public Outreach
Glow has been developed with extensive input from a broad range of community
advisors and partners. In addition to the Arts Commission, consistent input has been
provided by an advisory group of residents and local business leaders as well as
representatives from .the PRC, the CVB and Bayside. Staff also solicited input at a.
public meeting at the Ken Edwards Center which was covered in the Santa Monica
Daily Press and the Mirror.
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Financial Impacts & BudgetActions
The total budget for Glow is $300,000. Funding in the amount of $160,000 is available
through the City's public art funding with the balance coming from the Santa Monica
Arts Foundation and other funding partners. Additional staff costs are associated with
conducting festival activities; these costs will be identified in future Glow related staff
reports when Council approves the contracts.
Prepared by:
Jessica Cusick, Cultural Affairs Manager
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
U~' °-`-P'`r~`'e`
Barbara Stinchfield
Director, Community & Cultural Services
ont Ewell
City Manager
Attachment 1: Glow Festival Area Map
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ATTACHMENT A
List of Santa Monica Municipal Code Provisions SusAended For Glow
Municipal Code Section
4.08.091(b)
4.08.340
4.08.350
4.12.60
4.12.100
Subject Matter
Closure hours for Palisades Park
Closure hours for "amusement places"
Permission for temporary amusements
Exterior noise standards
Audio restrictions for parks beaches
Attachment B
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F:\Atty\M u n iLaw\Share\Laws\MJ M\GlowOrdinance
City Council Meeting: March 25, 2008 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA IMPOSING A TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN
MUNICIPAL CODE PROVISIONS AND OTHER LEGAL REQUIREMENTS WITHIN
STATED BOUNDARIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING AONE-NIGHT
ARTS FESTIVAL
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY. OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY
ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings and Purpose. The City Council finds and
declares:
(a) The City of Santa Monica is committed to promoting the arts and fostering
a broad range of community and cultural opportunities for residents and visitors.
(b) The community has requested that the City undertake production of a
signature cultural event that would be specific to Santa Monica, would draw
international recognition, and would enhance the City's reputation as a cultural center.
(c) The development of such an event for Fiscal Year 2008/09 was one of the
recommendations contained in the community cultural plan, Creative Capital, a plan for
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the development of Santa Monica's art and culture adopted by the City Council; and the
Council approved Creative Capital and the cultural festival.
(d) This festival will provide a unique recreational and cultural opportunity for
City residents and promote cultural tourism.
(e) Accordingly, the City will produce Glow,. as dusk to dawn arts festival,
which will pay tribute to Santa Monica's spectacular beach-front setting by recognizing
the grunion, a small silver fish that emerges from the'sea and comes onto the beach for
spawning on summer nights, momentarily glowing in the moonlight.
(f) In recognition of this remarkable natural event; the first Glow will take
place at the beach, in Palisades Park, on the Pier and in surrounding parking lots and
adjacent areas from 7:00 p.m. on July 19,.2008 until 7:00 a.m. the following morning.
(g) .The Pier Restoration Corporation, the Bayside District Corporation, and
the Convention and Visitors Bureau will work with the City as partners in producing
Glow.
(h) Glow will include. unique art installations created specifically for their
specific sites and will be choreographed to ensure that experiences are both continuous
and sequenced.
(i) It is anticipated that local businesses in the area of the Festival will provide
amenities and services as will the City and the co-sponsors.
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(j) In order to allow this. unique event to occur as envisioned and approved, it
is necessary for the Council to take various actions including temporarily. suspending
certain provisions of the Municipal Code and other regulations. or conditions which,
among other. things, establish closure hours for public spaces and businesses and
restrict other activities.
(k) This ordinance is intended to temporarily suspend various laws and
requirements for a twelve hour period solely for the purpose of enabling the City to
successfully produce Glow, a City event planned by a City team, which has included, at
every stage of planning, members of the Police and Fire Departments to ensure that the
public health, safety and welfare-are maintained..
(I) This ordinance is not intended, and should not be interpreted, to set a
precedent of suspending local laws and requirements for other purposes than Glow
because such laws and requirements are adopted and imposed for the purpose of
protecting health, safety and City residents' quality of life and therefore must be
maintained.
SECTION 2. Temporary Suspension of Certain Local Laws in Festival Area and
Vending Requirements.
(a) Temporary and Limited Suspension of Certain Code Provisions. The
provisions of the Santa Monica Municipal Code listed on Attachment A to this ordinance
shall be temporarily suspended from 7:00 p.m. on July 19, 2008 until 7:00 a.m. on July
20, 2008 ("the Festival hours") for the purpose of conducting an all-night art festival ("the
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Festival") in portions of Palisades Park, on Ocean Avenue, on the Pier, and in adjacent
areas during that time period.
(b) Geographic Boundaries in Which Suspension Applies Unless otherwise
indicated in this ordinance, the suspension imposed by this ordinance- applies only
within the geographic boundaries shown on Attachment B to this Ordinance.
(c) Vendors Participating In-the Festival and Vending Requirements. The
Department of Community & Cultural Services shall allocate vending licenses for the
Festival through a fair process and shall apply the following criteria: (a) the vendor must
supply food and/or beverages which will enhance the experience of the festival; (b) the
food and/or beverages must be sold in a manner which ensures they will be of benefit or
an amenity to those attending; and (c) the sales must be undertaken in a manner which
minimizes litter and does not damage the environment. Any cart used by a vendor
licensed to participate in the Festival shall be situated in a manner which protects the
free and safe flow of pedestrian traffic, shall be located at a specified site approved by
the City, and shall conform to City requiremerits for Festival carts as to size and
appearance that will protect public safety by ensuring the free flow of pedestrian traffic
and promote the aesthetics of the Festival.
(d) Temporary And Limited Suspension of Operating Conditions Reauiring
Business Closures And Limiting Outdoor Seating. .For the purpose of ensuring that
residents and visitors attending the art festival have access to services and amenities
during the Festival, local permit conditions limiting outdoor seating and requiring closure
of businesses in the late night hours shall be temporarily suspended from 7:OO p.m. on
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July 19, 2008 until 7:00 a.m. on July 20, 2008. This suspension shall apply to the
businesses in the area depicted on Attachment B.
SECTION 3. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 4. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion
of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional
SECTION 5. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage
of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the
official newspaper within 15 days after its adoption
effective 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
M SHA ~O ES MO RIE
Ci Attorn
This Ordinance shall become
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