City extends negotiations on Thunder by the Bay

After today’s City Commission meeting, staff hoped to have clarity regarding the future of Thunder by the Bay — an event that has caused supporters and detractors to speak out on the festival’s rightful place in downtown Sarasota.

The commission came to a different conclusion, directing staff to continue negotiations with Thunder by the Bay organizers in search of an adequate venue within the city limits. The board will revisit its dialogue on special events at an April 18 meeting.

Today's discussion was set to include a broader examination of the city’s downtown event policies. Currently, regulations include a moratorium on special events that close Main Street between Orange Avenue and Gulfstream Avenue, a temporary blackout period that extends through September of this year. The moratorium includes exemptions for Thunder by the Bay and the New Year’s Eve pineapple drop.

After both of those events drew complaints from merchants and residents this January, the city has not issued any permits for 2017 downtown special events. At today’s meeting, staff inquired as to whether commissioners would like to see the existing exemptions removed — or if the city should proceed with issuing permits.

Other suggested regulation options included a cap on the number of events each month, restrictions on the use of certain parts of the city and special rules for events that include street closures or liquor sales.

Although there was some criticism of the current regulations, the commission declined to take any immediate action towards substantive policy changes. Mayor Willie Shaw, Vice Mayor Suzanne Atwell and Commissioner Liz Alpert all expressed optimism that city staff, event organizers and downtown businesses and residents could eventually reach an acceptable compromise for all parties.

“We need to sit down, work together and figure it out so we can make it work,” Alpert said.

Still, the commission was also hesitant to resume issuing permits without adjusting the regulations. Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie called for a more robust and dynamic policy that accounts for an event's size, character and context within the city. Eddie suggested a special events committee should examine whether individual events were appropriate on a case-by-case basis.

“Part of this is that we don’t have a special events policy that dictates that we don’t treat all special events the same,” Eddie said.

Commissioner Susan Chapman, a leading critic of Thunder by the Bay and other special events, said events eventually outgrow their original venues. She disagreed with the assertion that extended negotiations would produce a successful outcome, considering no agreement had been struck during the previous two months.

“There hasn’t been a compromise by the Thunder by the Bay people,” Chapman said. “There has been a lot of talk.”

Ultimately, the commission agreed to direct staff to continue discussions with event organizers until April 18. The commission will continue to consider appropriate special events policy changes leading up to September, when the current Main Street moratorium is set to expire.

Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown called on Thunder by the Bay organizers to show more flexibility regarding their plans for next year’s event. Organizer Lucy Nicandri was reluctant to relocate to east Main Street or Payne Park in 2017, but Brown said construction within the downtown area would make maintaining the motorcycle festival’s current footprint a challenge.

After today’s meeting, Nicandri said she was hoping to get more concrete information from the city about their logistical challenges. At that point, she said, it would become clearer where next year’s Thunder by the Bay will ultimately be held.

“What I haven’t seen yet is details of all of the construction,” Nicandri said. “We want to see what’s going to happen where — and if we can make it work or not.”