PANAMA CITY BEACH — A previous proposal to close a portion of Panama City Beach behind free events during Spring Break has been eliminated in the latest version of an ordinance to be considered by the City Council on Thursday.
The revised special events ordinance is up for a final vote, and is the last proposal that the council has adopted to tone down the upcoming Spring Break.
The city developed the ordinance that makes fencing exceptions for certain special events after club owners and businesses that cater to the Spring Break crowd complained.
The latest ordinance wording would exempt organizers of free large events from having to install a fence or dual fences that run parallel to the water line. That fencing requirement, which was in the initial version of the ordinance, would have killed the two-day Spring Event featuring Luke Bryan at Spinnaker Beach Club, said Sparky Sparkman, owner of the club.
Since the council approved of the ordinance on first reading last month, staff has removed a requirement that would have closed the beach with no sea-side fences behind free events.
Several council members at the November meeting said they did not want the public to be prevented from walking along the shoreline past the free event. “We will all be hanged if people can’t get by there (as they walk the beach),” Councilman John Reichard said at the meeting.
But the beach closure wording has been eliminated, City Manager Mario Gisbert said in a memo to the City Council on Dec. 4.
“The promoter is required to permit pedestrians to pass by even when the event is at full capacity,” a letter from Gisbert to the City Council states.
The ordinance, should it pass on final reading, would be the last of 17 proposals that the City Council has adopted to tone down Spring Break, which was the subject of an unflattering series of stories on Fox News last year. Some business owners who have taken exception to some of the new rules have said the city overreacted to the report.
Gisbert said Wednesday that even though all of the proposals have been addressed, it does not mean they are set in stone, and they could change before, during or after Spring Break. “Things can change every day,” he said.
The revised ordinance up for a vote still requires side fences for free special events on the beach. But it creates a special exception from the sea-side fence requirement if:
- No coolers are allowed.
- The event is staffed as if all the beach between the side fences comprises the event area.
- Pedestrians can walk past the event along the shore, even when the event is at full capacity.
- Vehicles have access into and through the event area.
- The ordinance also requires all stages on the sand be guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the removal of the beach fences at night during sea turtle season.
The ordinance creates a special exception from all fences for corporate village events if:
- Nothing of value is required to attend.
- The event has at least three stages and/or tents.
- No stage is greater than 400 square feet, no more than 2 feet above grade and all stages must be on the flattest part of the beach.
Fencing may be omitted entirely if the event is staffed as if the owner’s entire beach, down to the wet sand, comprises the event area. The prior version of the ordinance gave the city manager the authority to close a special beach event if the maximum deemed attendance of one person per 7 feet is exceeded.
“We neglected to add the converse — to allow some staff to go home if substantially fewer patrons than ‘deemed’ attend,” Gisbert said in his memo to council members.
Gisbert said Wednesday that sponsors of corporate events can lighten up on security if they erect a fence. “For corporate events, if you have a 4-foot fence, then you provide security for the area within the 4-foot fence,” he said. “If you don’t have a fence, you have to assume the worst-case scenario and you have to provide security for the entire area of your beach.”
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at City Hall at 110 S. Arnold Road.
In other action on Thursday night, the council is slated to:
- Vote on a plat approval for Pier Park North.
- Vote on re-adopting a city ordinance that requires scooter rental businesses to provide vests for riders and insurance coverage in the event they hit somebody. The city has been sued by California Cycles, a scooter rental company, which alleges that state law regarding insurance and safety equipment supersedes city laws. The ordinance describes scooters on the beach as being used “primarily as amusements and not transportation.”