Agenda - Council Work Session - 07/20/2010

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Topic Report: Updated Facility Use Policy and Rate Schedule By: Mark Riverblood, Parks Supervisor and Jessica Hendricks, Management Intern Background: i \' t ~ With the recent construction of the City's amphitheater and new conference room in the Municipal Center, staff has taken this opportunity to update the City's Facility Use Policy. Staff has attached a copy of the updated policy for Council review. The City's new amphitheater within the COR is unique and a valuable asset to the city, and is already programmed for its first public performance on August 5th. The city may choose to establish rules of use that differ from those that are in place for parks in general, such as excluding bicycles and pets from the formal seating areas. Further, staff is recommending that concession sales of food and beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) be explored as a service to patrons, and potentially as a revenue source to help underwrite the cost of the performances. In addition, fees for this facility will need to be established - as it is likely that the site will be requested to be reserved for outdoor weddings or potentially fundraising performances. These rates and whether or not the public may be excluded for private rental will be addressed as part of the process of looking at other facility use fees which is presently occurring, and includes the new conference room in City Hall. After researching the rate schedules of cities with similar facilities, staff has updated the fees for facility use. The Facility Use Permit with the updated rate schedule has been attached for Council review. The purpose of this topic report is introduce (for possibly Council ratification on July 27t") a Special Events permit in favor of the city, to allow a licensed caterer to sell food and beverages mentioned above for the balance of 2010. (Final policies and fee structure would be adopted in December when Council adopts the Rates and Fee for 2011.) There are a number of details to sort through, such as security, the spatial limits of the permit and other policy matters. Staff is recommending that an interim policy be adopted for the amphitheater area as part of the permitting process, and that this would be effective in time for the August St" Big Walter Smith concert and accompanying Farmers Market - which is also functioning as the `soft roll-out' and celebration of the COR Marketplace. Attached is a sample of the detail associated with the Special Permit process. Also attached are the spatial areas being proposed for the permit and interim policy (within the dashed line). Additional information will be presented at the work session.