City Council Minutes 2014 03 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes March 4, 2014 Page 9 of 21 of special events needed to be more effective. He encouraged sensitivity to the downtown businesses and suggested getting the stakeholders together to address the issue. He thought it was a great problem to have, but the City must handle the process differently. Council member Jasiak arrived at 7:52 p.m. Council member Jasiak noted she lives at 1016 Main Street and is impacted by the events. She liked the vitality of downtown with both businesses and residences. She did not want to hobble the events, and suggested looking at a rating system to evaluate the events. Grandfathering an event just because it had always been here did not seem reasonable to her. She supported increased fees and painting the curbs for sight lines. She hoped the City could extend the events to another park in the near future. Council member Stolzmann suggested doing the best we can this year; increasing the event permit fee, enforcement on parking and notification of neighbors. She expressed interest in a rating system for assistance in determining what events should be allowed or not. She reported during her campaign, a resident stated they felt like they lived in Disneyland due to all the activities going on around them. She stated there should be some solution to the parking problems and was anxious to hear the results of the downtown parking study. Council member Loo agreed with everything said this evening. She also remembered when the downtown area was very quiet. She thought there was not an immediate solution, but suggested continuing to work on the issues. She felt the City Council should make a determination on a short term basis and direct staff and continue to work on the long term solution. Mayor Pro Tern Dalton agreed it was too late to change the permitting process right now. He recommended taking advantage of the help offered. COUNCIL DISCUSSION AND ACTION Mayor Muckle suggested direction to staff include investigation of the permit fees including what other communities charge; permit events this summer essentially as we have been, working hard to consider events on a case by case basis and engaging the stakeholders and professional members of the public. Council member Lipton suggested enhanced enforcement. Council member Loo was not in favor of changing the permit fees for 2014. Mayor Muckle wanted to look at permit fees long term and agreed enforcement should be increased. Council member Jasiak wanted the curbs to be painted to prevent over- parking and measures to reduce speeds in alleys.