City Commission talks special events restrictions

The City Commission will soon consider an ordinance that would create extra scrutiny for Sarasota’s largest special events — or prohibit them altogether.

At a meeting today, the commission resumed a long-standing discussion of the best practices for managing special events within the city. The agenda item was designed to address events such as Thunder by the Bay, which is moving from its downtown home in 2017 following complaints from merchants and residents earlier this year.

As the board has considered establishing new regulations, City Attorney Robert Fournier has encouraged commissioners to create objective standards for evaluating events so staff can uniformly apply regulations. Today, Fournier proposed drafting an ordinance that would apply to events that required the closure of at least five city blocks.

The commission agreed, directing staff to bring back an ordinance that would require City Commission approval for any special event that met that threshold. Additionally, the board directed staff to draft an alternate ordinance that would forbid events of that size completely.

“I think these events need to be managed better and I think we need to have an objective standard,” Commissioner Susan Chapman said.

Currently, Thunder by the Bay is the only event that closes five or more blocks, Fournier said.

Commissioner Suzanne Atwell, who voted with Commissioner Liz Alpert against the proposed draft ordinances, said she was concerned the city was moving in an overly restrictive direction regarding special events.

“I want to be careful that we’re not getting into the prohibition business,” Atwell said. “We’re trying to manage this.”

Chapman disagreed with that line of reasoning. She reiterated her belief that Thunder by the Bay has outgrown downtown Sarasota, and possibly the city as a whole.

“I think we should be in the prohibition business when it takes up 12 city blocks,” Chapman said. “I think we should be thinking about that because of the businesses that are year-round businesses, that are taxpayers.”

Commissioners also shared their desire to see other changes to the city’s special events policy. Vice Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie said that the current regulations fail to factor in the impact of noise, the use of public spaces like parks and the potential effects on points of ingress and egress.

“These are three big areas that have repeatedly come up, and if you look at the code, they’re not there,” Eddie said.

The city will discuss the two draft ordinances — and other issues related to special events — at future meetings.