Ordinance on Special Business Events Faces Vote

Should the city make permanent a temporary ordinance allowing businesses to have up to 12 special events a year? That is one of the questions the city's Planning Commission is expected to consider at its meeting Thursday night.

In 2009, the City Council approved a temporary ordinance that raised the number of special events a business is permitted to have each year from four to 12. With that temporary zoning ordinance expiring at the end of the year, the city is now exploring making it permanent.

“We’ve had really positive responses from the businesses,” Associate Planner Christopher Corrao told Patch. “We’ve had no complaints from the residents or the neighborhoods. There’s really no reason not to make it permanent. The intention [of the ordinance] is still to boost business for local businesses.”

A restriction of the temporary ordinance is that only four of those 12 special events can be large events, including concerts, carnivals, flea markets, second-hand sales, or outdoor sporting or food festivals. The other eight must be smaller, with lower attendance, such as gallery openings, special receptions and sidewalk sales.

“The distinction is really about the size and scope of the special event—how many people they’re trying to draw,” said Corrao.

Whenever a local business is interested in holding a public function, it must obtain the proper permits from City Hall. A business is allowed to serve alcohol and use a temporary valet service for special events.

If recommended for approval by the Planning Commission, the measure will then go to a final vote by the City Council. Because of full meeting agendas in the coming weeks, the council is not likely to vote on the measure until January. Meanwhile, the temporary ordinance is set to expire on Dec. 31. That means the current regulations would be suspended until a vote is taken, Corrao said.

“With [the ordinance] expiring, it just goes back to the old code until the new one passes,” said Corrao. “The old code allows four, and we figure businesses won’t be doing four special events in just a few weeks of the new year.”

In other issues on Thursday's agenda, the Planning Commission is to vote on zone-text amendments to the General Plan, which is to guide development in the city for the next 25 years. The council , and now various zoning ordinances must be altered to reflect changes to the plan.

The commission is also expected to hear a report from Bicycle Task Force representatives regarding their recommendations for making .

Among their recommendations are adding bike lanes to Fountain Avenue by reducing the four lanes of traffic to three—one lane in each direction with a dedicated center left-turn lane. The Task Force is also recommending extending the bike lanes for the length of Santa Monica Boulevard, and adding bike lanes to San Vicente Boulevard.

The Bicycle Task Force has been presenting its plan to various commissions in recent weeks and is to make a full presentation of the plan to the City Council in December.

The Planning Commission meets Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in West Hollywood Park Auditorium.

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