St. Armands sees new events regulations

After another lengthy discussion Monday in a process that has splintered the St. Armands Residents Association and pitted St. Armands Circle stakeholders against city staff, the Sarasota City Commission again seemed prepared to defer a decision on how to manage events in St. Armands Circle Park.

Before the vote, Vice Mayor Susan Chapman highlighted the potential downside of continuing to delay a process that began more than a year ago.

“Each time we have continued this, we’ve caused more conflict in the community,” Chapman said. “Instead of everybody working together, now we have two different neighborhood associations. Now we have people who worked together well for a number of years at each other’s throats — they’re all lawyering up.”

The rest of the commission agreed, unanimously passing a special events ordinance that includes specific regulations for events held at St. Armands Circle Park. The decision was a relief for some stakeholders, but opponents of the ordinance who had stepped forward in recent months saw their concerns largely go unacknowledged.

One of the most contentious elements of the special events ordinance was a moratorium on special events in the park during the height of tourist season. The blackout period in the park had been observed from Feb. 1 through April 15 or Easter, whichever came later, through 2009.

At that point, the city passed new regulations managing the issuance of park permits. In addition to eliminating the blackout period — which City Attorney Robert Fournier said was a result of the number of waivers to the moratorium being issued — it removed the informal system of the St. Armands Landowners, Merchants and Residents group approving events at St. Armands Circle Park.

Stakeholders on St. Armands have expressed a desire to return to that system in which the LMR group would offer its approval to proposed events before the city issued a permit. Fournier has said that system would represent an unlawful delegation of public power to a private entity.

If they couldn’t get the entirety of the status quo back, those stakeholders wanted the blackout period to return — and for it to be lengthened. The City Commission approved a temporary blackout period for 2014, and following that approval, St. Armands stakeholders asked for the moratorium to be extended through the end of April.

Season was growing past its traditional definition, businesses said, and April was a crucial month for business. Fournier expressed concern that the lengthened blackout period was specifically targeting the St. Armands Fine Art Festival. That event, held in late April, did not get approval from the merchants group, the St. Armands Circle Association.

Bill Kinney is the director of Paragon Art Festivals, which organizes the St. Armands Fine Art Festival. He agreed his event was being singled out and fought against a longer blackout period in the events ordinance. Mark Barnebey, a lawyer representing Paragon, cited a drop-off in hotel prices in the area following Easter as evidence the traditional moratorium period is adequate.

The commission disagreed, saying that the nature of the commercial tourist district on the Circle meant the health of businesses in the area needed to be prioritized.

“It’s a retail environment we have to nurture and protect,” Commissioner Paul Caragiulo said.

The other opponent to the city proposal was St. Armands residents. Citizens Organized to Protect St. Armands, a group composed partially of former leaders of the St. Armands Residents Association, formed to campaign for more resident oversight of events in the park.

The greatest burden from the special events, COPS member Ed Rosenblum said, fell on residents. He proposed a five-person citizen advisory committee to judge events on a case-by-case basis, made up mostly of residents but also a merchant and a city staff member.

Survey results the St. Armands Residents Association revealed verified Rosenblum’s claim that residents wanted a stake in what goes on at the park: 85% of respondents said residents should have a say in the type of events on the Circle, and 92% said the city should not be the sole determinant regarding what events are allowed.

“Residents should have the final say over what takes place in their own backyard,” Rosenblum said.

Although the commission declined to pursue that option, it unanimously agreed to create a short-term ad-hoc committee to determine a series of criteria that events in the park should meet.

Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, believed the commission did a good job of incorporating the concerns of Circle stakeholders — and was happy to see the saga near an end.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the end of the night,” Corrigan said. “My faith was restored.”

Event Regulations
The Sarasota City Commission passed a special events ordinance that includes specific rules for managing events at St. Armands Circle Park. Although some elements may change before the second reading, some of the most significant inclusions are:

• A moratorium on any events at St. Armands Circle Park from February through April;

• A limitation of two events per month outside of the “blackout period,” with an exception for three events in January and October;

• A 40-day window before an event permit can be issued following the notification of St. Armands residents.