ORD 98-05City of Otsego
County of Wright
State of Minnesota
Ordinance No. 98-5
An Ordinance Regulating Special Events
And Establishing Permit Requirements
Section 1_ Purpose and Findings. The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the health,
safety and welfare of the citizens of Otsego by regulating the time, place and manner of
conduct of Special Events and by establishing permit requirements for conducting Special
Events as such are herein defined. The Otsego City Council finds that Special Events
often exceed the City's capacity to provide usual city services. Such city services include,
but are not limited to sanitary, fire, police, and utility service. The Otsego City Council
also finds these regulations necessary to ensure that such events are conducted with
sufficient consideration given to public safety issues, including, among other things, the
impact of such events on parking and vehicular traffic within the City.
Section I Definitions_ For purposes of this ordinance, the following terms shall have the
meanings given to them:
a. `Person' is defined as a natural person, association, organization, club, group
formed for a common purpose, partnership of any kind, limited liability company,
corporation or any other legal entity.
b. `Special Event' is defined as an outdoor gathering of at least 50 individuals,
whether on public or private property, assembled with a common purpose for a period of
one hour or longer. Special events include, but are not limited to concerts, fairs, carnivals,
circuses, parades, flee markets, marathons, walkathons, festivals, races, bicycle events,
celebrations or any other gathering or event of similar nature. Special events do not
include non-commercial events held on private property such as graduation parties or
social parties.
Section I Permit Required No person shall hold, conduct or participate in a Special
Event within the City, unless a permit has been issued for such event upon timely written
application made to the City.
Section 4_ Application for Permit . Written application for Special Event permits must be
made at least 30 days in advance of the event's proposed date in a form prescribed by the
City Council. This application period shall not begin to run until a complete application
has been filed with the City. Application forms shall be made available in the Office of the
City Clerk. A fee, in the amount set by the City's fee schedule, shall be paid to the City
along with the completed application form. Failure to provide a complete application or
to pay the fee, as herein required, is sufficient reason to deny the Special Event permit.
Section Iss uan a of Permit, ondi ions, Posting. Special Event permits will be issued
upon Council approval. The Council may attach such reasonable conditions to the permit
as are deemed necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare. Such conditions
may pertain to any of the following:
a. location and hours during which the event may be held.
b. sanitation/ availability of potable water.
c. security/ crowd management.
d. parking and traffic issues.
e. emergency and medical services.
f. clean-up of premises and surrounding area/ trash disposal.
g. insurance.
h. lighting.
i. fire service/safety.
j. temporary construction, barricades/ fencing.
k. removal of advertising/ promotional materials
1. noise levels
m. alcohol consumption
n. any other condition which the Council deems necessary.
Upon council approval, the City Clerk shall issue a permit to the Person(s) named in the
permit application. The permit shall clearly state the conditions, if any, imposed by the
Council. Copies of the permit shall be posted in three (3) prominent locations during the
Special Event.
Section 6_ Exceptions to the Permit Requirement, The permit requirement contained in
this ordinance does not apply to the following:
a. Special Events sponsored and managed by the City of Otsego.
b. funerals and funeral processions.
c. the grounds of any school, playground, place of worship, hotel, conference
center, stadium, athletic fields, arena, auditorium, or similar permanent place of assembly
when used for regularly established assembly purposes.
Section 7_ Penalty for Violations, Enforcement, Any person who violates any condition of
a Special Event permit or any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
punishable as prescribed by state law. Enforcement of this ordinance may, at the council's
discretion, take any of the following forms:
a. citation/ criminal prosecution.
b. injunctions, declaratory judgments, or other civil remedies.
c. permit revocation.
d. disbursement of persons gathered.
This ordinance shall be effective upon adoption and publication in the City of Otsego's
official newspaper. Adopted this 13th day of July, 1998.
In favor: All.
Opposed: None.
CITY OF OTSEGO
Mayol;4 \
Larry ourni
Published: July 22, 1998
Posted: July 14, 1998 - Otsego CityHAll Both Boards