Parks and Rec tweaks Hermosa Beach events policies
Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar display their skateboard trophies after winning the Hermosa Beach AVP Open last month. Photo
When Jimmy Buffett wants to come to town, there’s not always time to get City Council.
Earlier this month, the Hermosa Beach Parks and Recreation Commission approved modifications to the way the city approves special events. The policy keeps in place City Manager approval for “unforeseeable events,” like the last minute agreement that brought the Coral Reefers to Hermosa in 2014. But further changes to the special events policy will follow meetings between a commission subcommittee and city staff.
The revisions come amidst concerns that the city’s beaches are too frequently the site of special events.
“Nobody has ever complained that there are too many events at the Clark Building … When people complain about event intensity, it is 100 percent of the time at the beach,” Commissioner Robert Rosenfeld said.
The changes were sought by city staff after a broad revision of the event policy was made last year. Community Resources Manager Kelly Orta described that policy as “a big success,” but said that council members and event producers had suggested several changes.
Chief among them is a reduction in the number of events that will be required to have a public hearing at the City Council. Under the former policy, all new events had to have public hearings before both the commission and the City Council. Under the new policy, only high-impact events will require a City Council public hearing.
Another change requested by the Parks and Rec commissions is language to ensure that events approved by the council are first presented to the commission. Chair Jessica Guheen implied that didn’t happen with the recently concluded Hermosa Open AVP tournament, which occupied the beach for 12 days.
“There were a couple of events that went to the council and never even came to us. We need to make sure that events don’t leapfrog the commission,” Guheen said.