[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Lewes 7-14-2008. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 197.
The intent of this chapter is to:
A. 
Promote the general health, safety and welfare of the community.
B. 
Establish guidelines under which special events may be held.
C. 
Promote the economic well-being of the community through the orderly attraction of people to special events.
D. 
Ensure that City personnel are adequate to provide proper services for a special event by having ample time to prepare.
E. 
Ensure that any incremental or extraordinary costs to the City are borne by the promoter of the event necessitating such costs.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated.
APPLICANT
The person or persons, organization, partnership, corporation, or other entity required to apply for a permit under this chapter.
COMMUNITY EVENT
Any public assembly or gathering of people which may, because of the location, time or anticipated number of persons involved, be reasonably expected to have a significant effect upon the ordinary use of the public streets, rights-of-way, sidewalks, beach or any other public areas. By way of example and not in limitation, "community event" includes fairs, festivals, parades, motorcades, bicycle rides/races, rallies, marches, processions, walking events and concerts. Private social gatherings on private property or funeral processions are not included.
A. 
All community events are prohibited unless written notice and an application containing the following information is given to the City Manager at least three working days before the community event is to take place:
(1) 
The character, day, date, time, duration, location, approximate number of participants in the event and the number of organization members or volunteers that will assist in the conduct of the event; if the community event is to be a parade, procession or similar moving assembly, the proposed route thereof.
(2) 
The names and addresses of the persons responsible for the community event.
(3) 
The purpose of the event and the estimated number of persons and vehicles expected to participate.
(4) 
The names of the participating organization and officers of the organization.
(5) 
Contact information for the coordinator of the event including cell phone and e-mail.
B. 
The City Manager shall, within two working days:
(1) 
Approve the application and issue a permit; or
(2) 
Deny the application in accordance with the standards set out in § 80-4; or
(3) 
Approve the application and issue a permit with specified limitations with respect to day, time, duration, location or other reasonable limitations, including payment of the City's incremental costs necessary to provide those public services necessitated by the community event; provided that such incremental costs shall not include the cost of providing police protection to participants or the public necessitated by the potential for hostile response to the community event.
The City Manager may deny or modify a community event permit for any of the following reasons:
A. 
The event will significantly disrupt traffic within the City, and no practical solution to such disruption is reasonably available.
B. 
The event will significantly interfere with access to or egress from the fire station such that the ability of the Fire Department to promptly respond to emergencies would be jeopardized.
C. 
The location of the special event will cause undue hardship to adjacent businesses, residents and/or property owners.
D. 
The event will require the diversion of City employees which would unreasonably deny service to the remainder of the City.
E. 
The event will interfere with a previously scheduled event.
F. 
The applicant has submitted materially incomplete or false information.
G. 
Any other articulable content-neutral reason narrowly designed to advance a compelling and legitimate City interest with regard to the community event.
A. 
Any person aggrieved by the action of the City Manager in denying, modifying or revoking a permit may appeal to the Mayor and City Council by promptly filing with the Mayor a written statement setting forth fully the grounds for such appeal. Upon receipt of the written appeal, the Mayor shall set a time and place for hearing such appeal and shall immediately notify the applicant of such hearing by telephone and United States Mail, postage prepaid, to the applicant at the address provided by the applicant to the City, or such notice shall be delivered by a police officer in the same manner as a summons at least three days prior to the date set for the hearing.
B. 
At such hearing, the applicant and the City Manager shall be entitled to present such evidence and arguments as they deem appropriate in support of their respective positions; to cross-examine witnesses to be represented by legal counsel; and to request that witnesses be sworn. The hearing shall be tape-recorded, and the Mayor and City Council shall articulate the reasons for its decision. Strict rules of evidence shall not apply to the conduct of such hearing, but the Mayor and City Council may hear and consider any relevant evidence which a reasonable person, in making important decisions in his/her own life, would consider and rely upon in making such decisions.
C. 
The decision of the Mayor and City Council regarding an appeal shall be final.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
The applicant shall pay the fee specified on the City’s website. The fee shall be paid with the application and be refundable under the circumstances stated on the website.
The approval of the City Manager of an application for a community event permit may be made contingent upon the applicant providing the City a certificate of liability insurance covering the City of Lewes as an additional insured, in an amount of $1,000,000. In determining whether or not to require insurance under this section, the City Manager shall consider, among other things, the availability of such insurance in the community, the size and nature of the event, the likelihood of harm to the participants and/or spectators and the financial ability of the applicant to pay for such insurance; provided, however, such factors and the basis for consideration shall be content-neutral and shall be narrowly designed to advance a compelling and legitimate City interest.
A. 
Cleanup. The applicant shall be responsible for the removal of all debris, litter and equipment generated or caused by a special event within 24 hours of the event's conclusion. If said debris, litter and equipment is not removed, as required herein; the City shall have the authority to remove it at the expense of the applicant.
B. 
Permit expiration. The permit shall set forth the time period for which the permit is issued. The time period for which the permit is effective shall include a reasonable period of time to allow the applicant to clean up from the community event. The permit shall expire at the end of the time period specified in the permit. The incremental cost of any City personnel who are specifically required for cleanup following the expiration of the community event shall be the responsibility of the applicant.
C. 
If, because of the nature, size or duration of the community event, the City Manager reasonably concludes that the cost of the cleanup after the community, event will exceed $2,500, the City Manager may require, as a condition of issuing the permit, that the applicant deposit with the City the sum of $2,500 in the form of cash, letter of credit, performance bond or other means acceptable to the City. Such deposit shall be returned to the applicant without interest no later than five working days after the conclusion of the community event, provided that the applicant has satisfied its cleanup obligations under Subsections A and B above. In the event that the applicant fails to satisfy such obligations, the City Manager may use all (or as much as reasonably necessary) of the deposit to effect satisfactory cleanup.
A permit issued under the provisions of this chapter may be revoked or suspended by the City Manager, without prior notice, for any of the following causes:
A. 
Fraud, misrepresentations or a material and significant incorrect statement contained in the application for the permit or made in the course of promoting the community event.
B. 
Failure to comply with any provision of this chapter.
C. 
Conducting the community event in an unlawful manner or in such a manner as to constitute a menace to the health, safety or general welfare of the public.
Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall, in addition to other enforcement remedies and/or sanctions available to the City forfeit and pay a civil penalty of not less than $25 or no more than $500 upon conviction thereof, plus court costs. Each day of the continuing violation shall constitute a separate violation.