SR 06-28-2022 10A
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 28, 2022
Agenda Item: 10.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Andy Agle, Director, Community Services Department, Community
Recreation
Subject: Introduction and Adoption of Urgency Ordinance Amending Allowed Parade
Routes
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council introduce and adopt the attached emergency
ordinance that amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 on parade
routes to promote public safety and welfare.
Summary
Santa Monica Municipal Code (“SMMC”) Chapter 4.68 is the Community Events law,
which, among other things, provides regulations on parades, marches, processions, and
walks. Two current parade routes commence on Main Street, north of the entrance to
the Civic Auditorium parking lot and proceed southbound. The staging for the parades
historically has taken place at the Civic Center parking lot. Since February 2020, the
Civic Center parking lot has been under construction for the Sustainable Water
Infrastructure Project. Together with the construction of Historic Belmar Park, it is not
possible to stage for parades in the Civic Center parking lot. With the lifting of public
health prohibitions on gatherings and the return of parades, staff recommends that the
route in SMMC Section 4.68.150 be amended to allow for a new staging area and for
parades to proceed northbound on Main Street. (See Attachment I.) The addition of two
new parade routes, which are the original routes in reverse direction, would allow event
organizers to stage parades at the South Beach parking lot. The first event on the new
route would be the 2022 Main Street Fourth of July parade.
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Discussion
Recognizing the substantial community benefits that may result from community events,
the City has a comprehensive, coordinated process for managing events on public
property and ensuring health and safety, which is codified in SMMC Chapter 4.68,
Community Events law. The Community Events law establishes the City’s framework for
permitting community events to use City streets, parks, open spaces, and City facilities
licensed to private parties. Permits are required for (1) parades and assemblies that use
the public right-of-way and are likely to impede the free use of the space or not comply
with traffic regulations, (2) activities that involve 150 or more persons on public property
or 75 persons or more on the Third Street Promenade, or (3) events that include a
structure requiring a permit from the Fire Department or Building and Safety Division.
SMMC Section 4.68.150 specifies the parade routes. Two of the parade routes
commence on Main Street, north of the entrance to the Civic Auditorium parking lot and
head southbound along Main Street. The entrance to the Civic Center Parking lot has
been closed due to construction since at least February 2020. Once the construction is
completed, the space available for staging and public safety checks for Main Street
parades will be significantly reduced. Therefore, the area is no longer an appropriate
staging area.
On May 24, 2022, the City Council directed staff to return with an emergency
ordinance that amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 to allow
parades on Main Street to proceed in a northbound direction.
As an application for a permit to hold a parade can be submitted with as little as two
business days’ notice, there is insufficient time for Council to hold a first and
second reading on any amendments to the Community Events Law that would
impact a planned event. Therefore, an emergency ordinance is presented. (See
Attachment I.) The addition of two new parade routes, which are the original routes in
reverse direction, would allow for event organizers to stage Main Street parades at the
South Beach parking lot and proceed northbound. The location for the staging and
disbanding of parades along the parade route will be set forth in the traffic control
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plan for an event. Amending the ordinance to allow for additional parade routes is
also in compliance with the Vehicle Code Section 21101, which requires a resolution
or ordinance to temporarily close streets for special events or parades if it is necessary
for the safety and protection of persons who are to use that portion of the street during
the temporary closing. Adoption of the emergency ordinance would allow the 2022
Main Street Fourth of July Parade to occur on the new route.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
06/27/00 (attachment A) Approval of the Community Event Policy
04/24/01 (attachment B) Addition of Chapter 4,68, the Community Events Code, to the
Santa Monica Municipal Code and adoption of associated fees.
05/08/01 (attachment C) Addition of Chapter 4,68 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code,
the Community Events Law.
04/08/03 (attachment D) Amendment of Santa Monica Municipal Code Sections relating
to Community Events and Street Banners.
07/26/05 (attachment E) Amendment to Municipal Code Section 4.68.160 Establishing a
New 5/10K Race Route, Eliminating a 5/10K Race Route, and
Modifying the Permitted Race Time and Frequency Parameters
9/22/09 (attachment F) Amendment of Municipal Code Section 4.68 to show a marathon
route segment, modifications to the City’s Extended Event
Policy, authorization for execution of agreements for the 2010
LA Marathon.
10/25/2011(attachment
G)
Amendment of Municipal Code Chapters 3.36, 4.08, 4.55, 4.68
and 6.36 relating to permitted community events in the City’s
public spaces and parks.
05/24/2022 (attachment
H)
City Council directed staff to return with an urgency ordinance
that amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 to
allow parades on Main Street to continue in a northbound
direction.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the recommended
action.
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Prepared By: Claudia Kompa, Executive Administrative Assistant
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. 6/27/2000 Approval of the Community Event Policy (Web Link)
B. 4/24/2001 Addition of Chapter 4,68, the Community Events Code, to the Santa
Monica Municipal Code and adoption of associated fees (Web Link)
C. 5/8/2001 Addition of Chapter 4,68 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code, the
Community Events Law (Web Link)
D. 4/8/2003 Amendment of Santa Monica Municipal Code Sections relating to
Community Events and Street Banners (Web Link)
E. 7/26/2005 Amendment to Municipal Code Section 4.68.160 Establishing a New
5/10K Race Route, Eliminating a 5/10K Race Route, and Modifying the Permit
(Web Link)
F. 9/22/2009 Amendment of Municipal Code Section 4.68 to establish a marathon
route segment, modifications to the City’s Extended Event Policy (Web Link)
G. 10/25/2011 Amendment of Municipal Code Chapters 3.36, 4.08, 4.55, 4.68 and
6.36 relating to permitted community events in the City’s public spaces and parks
(Web Link)
H. 5/24/2022 City Council directed staff to return with an urgency ordinance that
amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 to allow parades on
Main Street (Web Link)
I. Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150
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City Council Meeting: June 28, 2022 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER ____ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 4.68.150 ON
PARADE ROUTES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC SAFETY AND WELFARE
WHEREAS, on May 8, 2001, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 2008
(CCS), adding Chapter 4.68 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code, the Community Events
Law; and
WHEREAS, the Community Events Law provides a coordinated process for
managing community events to ensure the health and safety of event patrons, residents,
workers, and other visitors, to prohibit illegal activities from occurring at community
events, and to protect the rights of community event permit holders; and
WHEREAS, the Community Events Law is designed to protect the right of people
to engage in expressive activities in the City's public places and establishes the least
restrictive and reasonable time, place, and manner regulations of these activities; and
WHEREAS, the Community Events Law has been amended and refined on
several occasions to ensure that the law conforms to constitutional requirements and to
enact appropriate modifications to the law based on experience, changing conditions in
the City, and community feedback on the operation of the law; and
10.A.i
Packet Pg. 261 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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WHEREAS, the City's Community Events Law has been in place for over two
decades and has been highly successful in establishing a coordinated process for
community events, thereby ensuring the health and safety of event patrons,
residents, workers, and other visitors and protecting the rights of community event
permit holders; and
WHEREAS, California Vehicle Code Section 21101(e) authorizes local
authorities, for those highways under their jurisdiction, to adopt rules and regulations by
ordinance or resolution to temporarily close a portion of any street for celebrations,
parades, local special events, and other purposes when, in the opinion of local
authorities having jurisdiction or a public officer or employee that the local authority
designates by resolution, the closing is necessary for the safety and protection of
persons who are to use that portion of the street during the temporary closing; and
WHEREAS, since the adoption of the Community Events Law in 2001, Santa
Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 has provided a parade route for Main Street
that commences at the entrance to the Civic Auditorium parking lot and proceeds on
Main Street in a southbound direction, ending in the South Beach parking lot; and
WHEREAS, the staging for parades on Main Street, including any required
public safety inspections by the Santa Monica Police Department, have occurred in
the Civic Auditorium parking lot; and
WHEREAS, the entrance to the Civic Auditorium parking lot off of Main Street
has been closed since February 2020 when construction on the Sustainable Water
Infrastructure Project commenced; and
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Packet Pg. 262 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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WHEREAS, once the construction in the Civic Auditorium parking lot is
completed, the space available for staging and public safety checks for parades will
be significantly reduced; and
WHEREAS, there have been no parades along Main Street since at least
February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, there are no longer State or County COVID-19 related public
health restrictions on holding large public gatherings, such as parades; and
WHEREAS, the City anticipates that several organizations that previously held
parades along Main Street will seek community events permits for such parades this
summer; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the City’s Administrative Instruction on Events, an
application for a permit to hold a parade can be submitted with as little as two
business days’ notice, which does not allow sufficient time for City Council to hold a
first and second reading on any amendments to the Community Events Law that
would impact a planned event; and
WHEREAS, it is not currently possible to do staging and public safety checks
for parades in the Civic Auditorium parking lot due to its closure; and
WHEREAS, changing the commencement and ending points and the direction
of a parade is not a minor adjustment that is authorized by Santa Monica Municipal
Code Section 4.68.150(b); and
WHEREAS, on May 24, 2022, the City Council directed staff to return with an
emergency ordinance that amends Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150
to allow parades on Main Street to proceed in a northbound direction; and
10.A.i
Packet Pg. 263 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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WHEREAS, on June 28, 2022, the City Council held a public meeting during which
it considered the adoption of this Emergency Ordinance pursuant to California
Government Code Section 36937 and Santa Monica City Charter Section 615, both of
which allow the adoption of emergency ordinances to take effect immediately to ensure
the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and general welfare in the
City of Santa Monica; and
WHEREAS, the City Council hereby finds that: the amendment to the Santa
Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150 implemented by this Emergency Ordinance is
immediately necessary as an emergency measure in order to preserve the public health,
safety, and welfare of parade participants, spectators, and visitors by ensuring that there
is a location for staging and public safety checks for parades along Main Street other than
at the Civic Auditorium Lot and authorizing such parades to proceed in a northbound
route.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.150, Parades, marches,
processions, walks, is hereby amended to read as follows:
4.68.150 Parades, marches, processions, walks.
(a) Subject to the requirements of this Chapter, a community event permit may
be issued for a march, procession, walk, or parade in one direction only on the
following streets:
(1) Ocean Avenue, between Adelaide Drive (northwest City limits) and
Picoa Boulevard;
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Packet Pg. 264 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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(2) Commencing on Ocean Avenue at the intersection of Adelaide Drive
(northwest City limits) and continuinge south on Ocean Avenue to the
intersection of Colorado Avenue, turning easterly on Colorado Avenue to
the intersection of Main Street, turning southerly on Main Street, ending at
the intersection of Main Street and Pico Boulevard;
(3) Commencing on Main Street, south of the intersection of Olympic
Drive, north of the entrance to the Civic Auditorium parking lot and
continuinge south on Main Street to the intersection of Marine Street,
turning westerly on Marine Street to the intersection of Barnard Way,
turning northerly on Barnard Way, ending at the entrance to the Parking
Lot 5 South Beach parking lot where the parade will disband;
(4) Commencing on Barnard Way, south of the entrance to Parking Lot 5
South, continuing southerly on Barnard Way to the intersection of Marine
Street, continuing easterly on Marine Street to the intersection of Main
Street, turning northerly on Main Street, continuing north on Main Street,
ending at the intersection of Olympic Drive; and
(5) (4) Commencing on Main Street, between Olympic Drive and Marine
Street (adjacent to the southern City limits)north of the entrance to the
Civic Auditorium parking lot and continue south on Main Street to the
Santa Monica/Los Angeles border.
(b) Minor adjustments to the routes established in subsection (a) of this
Section may be authorized by the Community Events Committee to the extent
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Packet Pg. 265 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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necessary to avoid construction or other obstructions which that would prevent
the parade from proceeding on the established route.
(c) Subject to all other applicable requirements of this Chapter, this Section
does not prohibit the issuance of a community event permit for marches or
processions on other streets so long as through and cross-traffic can be
preserved and the safety of the marchers can be maintained.
(d) Marches, parades, walks, and processions may not be conducted on
streets classified by the City as arterial streets between the hours of seven a.m.
to nine a.m. and three-thirty p.m. to seven p.m. on business days unless the
march or procession is being conducted to coincide with another event, not
organized or planned by the permittee, which is occurring on or adjacent to the
arterial street upon which the march will be conducted.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Emergency 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 Emergency Ordinance.
SECTION 3. 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 Emergency Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Emergency Ordinance and each and every section, subsection,
sentence, clause, or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to
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Packet Pg. 266 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)
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whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of
this Emergency Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in
the official newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. Pursuant to Sections 615 and 619
of the City Charter, for the reasons stated in the recitals above, the City Council declares
this Emergency Ordinance to be necessary as an emergency measure for preserving the
public peace, health, and safety, with the result that this Emergency Ordinance shall be
introduced and adopted at the same meeting, and shall become effective immediately
upon its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________
DOUGLAS SLOAN City Attorney
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Packet Pg. 267 Attachment: Attachment I_Proposed Ordinance Amending SMMC 4.68.150 [Revision 2] (5163 : Parade Route Amended Ordinance)