The use of public parks in the City by large groups causes wear and tear on the turf, park equipment, and facilities, and it requires staff time to provide coordination. Additional supplies, restroom cleaning and trash service are required. Such uses can subject neighboring residents to excessive noise and traffic, particularly when the park is small or use is particularly intense. Groups wishing to use a park sometimes find that their use is in conflict with that of another group, and on occasion, group use is so intense that casual use by families and individuals, which is one of the principal purposes of the parks, is not possible. Because the parks are attractive and well maintained, their use is intensifying, particularly for such activities as employee picnics, by groups from other cities. These groups do not contribute to the maintenance of the parks through the payment of property taxes and assessments. If the City does not regulate the intensity of group use of its parks, and provide for the payment of fees where appropriate, it will not be able to maintain the very qualities in its parks that make them attractive.
(94-15)
For purposes of this chapter the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them below:
"Group event"
means an organized picnic, exhibit, show, class, or similar gathering at which food is served, or for which the group brings to the park furniture and equipment such as tables, booths, tents or play equipment. It does not include City-sponsored or co-sponsored events. A group event shall be considered Claremont-based if the applicant is a City resident, a business or school located in the City, or a nonprofit community organization, a majority of whose member or board are City residents, or which provides services to a significant number of City residents on a continuing basis. All other group events shall be considered nonresident group events.
"Human Services Director"
means the Director of Human Services or any person designated by the City Manager or the Director of Human Services to perform the director's duties under this chapter.
(14-07)
Applications for group event permits shall be made in writing on forms provided by the Human Services Director, and shall be filed with the Human Services Director together with such application fees as may be established from time to time by resolution of the City Council. The application shall accurately identify the applicant, the nature of the event, the preferred date, time and location, the attendance at it, the activities proposed, and any furniture, equipment, banners, or sound amplification proposed, together with such other information as the Human Services Director shall determine is necessary to determine if the application should be issued under the standards of this chapter.
(14-07)
A. 
The City Council shall, by resolution, establish time limits within which applications must be filed or reservations made, establishing and designating those portions of public parks for which reservations and permits shall be allowed or required for group events, setting insurance requirements, setting priorities among categories of City-based and nonresident group events, length of time for which an area may be reserved, and otherwise establishing the procedures and standards for group events. No park may be entirely reserved for group events.
B. 
The Human Services Department shall provide notice to owners of property within three hundred feet of any public park when the Human Services Department approves any park use by any group of three hundred or more or by any group which wishes to use amplified sound.
C. 
The Human Services Director shall issue a group event permit upon determining that the proposed group event can be accommodated at the time and date requested, and at a location in which it can take place without damaging the park landscaping and equipment, overloading any restroom and other facilities, conflicting with other events, or creating traffic congestion or excessive noise in the neighborhood. In allocating sites for group events, the director shall consider both the impact of the particular group event and the cumulative impact of events in that location. The permit shall be issued with such conditions as are necessary to carry out the intent of this chapter, and may include a requirement that City staff be present during the event. Equipment and activities that may damage the park or adversely impact the neighborhood may be prohibited. While applicants may designate a preferred location, the decision as to which site may be used shall be made by the Human Services Director.
D. 
A permit shall be denied if the findings of subsection C of this section cannot be made, and it may be denied if, within the past two years, the applicant or the group has failed to abide by the terms of a previously issued permit, or has otherwise violated the provisions of this title.
E. 
The Human Services Director's decision may be appealed to the Community and Human Services Commission by filing an appeal, in writing, with the Human Services Department within the time limits established by resolution of the City Council.
(00-06; 12-04; 14-07)
The City Council shall from time to time, by resolution, set the application fee for group event permits and the park use fee for group event permits. Such fees shall not exceed the reasonable costs of providing the services. Fee for nonresident group events shall reflect the fact that nonresident groups do not contribute to the support of the City's public parks through the payment of real property taxes and assessments.
(94-15)
This chapter shall only apply in parks where signs are erected advising of the requirement of permits for group events.
(94-15)