CHAPTER 118:  REGULATION OF PUBLIC DANCES AND SPECIAL EVENTS

 

 

Section

 

                                                                       Public Dances

 

118.01   Regulation of public dances

118.02   Definitions

118.03   Permit required

118.04   Application for permit

118.05   Insurance

118.06   Location

118.07   Permit to be posted

118.08   Liquor license required

118.09   Licensed police officer presence

118.10   Hours

118.11   Minors prohibited

118.12   Certain behavior prohibited

118.13   Lighting

118.14   Noise

 

                                                                       Special Events

 

118.20   Purpose and findings

118.21   Definitions

118.22   Permit required

118.23   Application for permit

118.24   Issuance of permit, conditions and posting

118.25   Exceptions to the permit

 

118.99   Penalty

 

 

                                                                   PUBLIC DANCES

 

 

SECTION 118.01  REGULATION OF PUBLIC DANCES.

 

All public dances held in this city shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.02  DEFINITIONS.

 

The terms stated below shall have the following meanings:

 

PUBLIC DANCE.  Any dance where the general public may participate, whether or not a charge for admission for dancing is made.

 

PUBLIC DANCING PLACE.  Any room or space or other area, whether indoors or outside, which is open to the general public for the purpose of participating in public dancing.

 

SECTION 118.03  PERMIT REQUIRED.

 

No person shall conduct a public dance in this city unless a permit has been obtained from the City Clerk prior to the holding of the dance. The fees for a permit shall be as established by the Ordinance Establishing Fees and Charges, adopted pursuant to ' 30.11 of this code, as that ordinance may be amended from time to time. In addition to this fee, the applicant shall pay the cost to the city of providing a licensed peace officer or officers to be present at the dance. The City Council shall establish criteria for determining the number of licensed peace officers required to be present at any dance. No permit shall be issued until the fee and the cost for providing the peace officer or officers has been paid.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.04  APPLICATION FOR PERMIT.

 

Any person desiring a permit to hold a public dance in this city shall submit an application for a permit on the form provided by the City Clerk, submitted to the City Clerk at least ten days before the date of the proposed dance. The application shall set forth the name and address of the applicant, who shall be the person responsible for conducting the public dance, and any business, committee or organization sponsoring the dance, the place where the dance is to be held, the date of the dance and the time of its beginning and end.  Proof of all insurance required by this chapter shall be submitted with the application and no permit shall be issued until proof of insurance has been received.  A request for any use of a city building or other city property shall be included with the permit application, and no permit shall be issued until the fees for the use of the city building or other city property have also been paid.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.05  INSURANCE.

 

All insurance policies required for the event, including any insurance required by law for the sale of alcoholic beverages, shall list the city as a named insured and provide a provision to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the city and any of its employees from any claims arising from the event.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.06  LOCATION.

 

The applicant shall make sure that adequate parking is available for the persons wishing to attend the dance and make sure that the location is safe and accessible.  This information shall also be provided to the City Clerk before a permit shall be issued.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.07  PERMIT TO BE POSTED.

 

When a permit is issued, the holder of the permit shall post the permit in a prominent location on the premises on which the dance is to be held during the time the dance is occurring. The applicant shall be present at all times while the dance is occurring.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.08  LIQUOR LICENSE REQUIRED.

 

No person shall give, hold, conduct or permit any public dance where liquor will be served, as defined in M.S. Ch. 340A, without obtaining a license from the city.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

 

SECTION 118.09  LICENSED PEACE OFFICER PRESENCE.

 

No public dance shall occur without at least one licensed peace officer or more, if more are required under the criteria established by the City Council, who shall be present at the public dancing place during the duration of the dance and after the dance, until all of the participants have left the public dancing place.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.10  HOURS.

 

No public dance shall occur between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

 

SECTION 118.11  MINORS PROHIBITED.

 

No person under the age of 21 shall be allowed to be present by the permit holder or any peace officer at a public dance where alcohol is sold or consumed, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

 

SECTION 118.12  CERTAIN BEHAVIOR PROHIBITED.

 

No person present at any public dance shall engage in any disorderly conduct, as defined by M.S. ' 609.72, as it may be amended from time to time, and any disorderly person shall be immediately removed from the dance by the peace officer present at the public dancing place. Should a substantial number of persons at the public dance engage in disorderly conduct, the peace officer present shall terminate the dance and remove all persons from the public dancing place.

Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

 

 

SECTION 118.13  LIGHTING.

 

In order to protect the safety of persons attending a public dance, public dancing places shall be adequately illuminated and dancing therein while lights are extinguished, dimmed or turned low so as to give inadequate or imperfect illumination is hereby prohibited.  All exit areas shall be illuminated at all times during the public dance with light having intensity of not less than one footcandle at floor level. Illumination of less than 0.5 foot-candles in any area where dancing is occurring, permitted or encouraged is prohibited.

       Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.14  NOISE.

 

All public dances shall be subject to the provisions of this code regulating noise.

       Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

 

                                                                  SPECIAL EVENTS

 

 

SECTION 118.20  PURPOSE AND FINDINGS.

 

The purpose of this chapter is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of this city 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 City Council finds that special events often exceed the city's capacity to provide usual city services. These city services include, but are not limited to sanitary, fire, police and utility services. The 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 these events on parking and vehicular traffic within the city.

 

SECTION 118.21  DEFINITIONS.

 

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

 

PERSON.  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.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS.  An outdoor gathering of at least 25 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, flea markets, marathons, walkathons, festivals, races, bicycle events, celebrations or any other gathering or events of similar nature. SPECIAL EVENTS do not include noncommercial events held on private property, such as graduation parties or social parties.

SECTION 118.22  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.

       Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.23  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 Administrator. A fee, in the amount specified in the Ordinance Establishing Fees and Charges, shall be paid to the city along with the completed application form. In addition to the fee, the applicant shall pay all additional costs incurred by the city as a direct result of the special event. Failure to provide a complete application or to pay the fee, as herein required, is sufficient reason to deny the special event permit.

 

SECTION 118.24  ISSUANCE OF PERMIT, CONDITIONS AND POSTING.

 

(A)  Special event permits will be issued upon City Council approval. The Council may attach  reasonable conditions to the permit as are deemed necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare. Such conditions may pertain to any of the following:

 

(1)   Location and hours during which the event may be held;

 

(2)   Sanitation/availability of potable water;

 

(3)   Security/crowd management;

 

(4)   Parking and traffic issues;

 

(5)   Emergency and medical services;

 

(6)   Clean-up of premises and surrounding area/trash disposal;

 

(7)   Insurance;

 

(8)   Lighting;

 

(9)   Fire service/safety;

 

      (10)  Temporary construction, barricades/fencing;

 

      (11)  Removal of advertising/promotional materials;

 

      (12)  Noise levels;

 

      (13)  Alcohol consumption;

 

      (14)  Any other conditions which the Council deems necessary.

 

(B)   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 prominent locations during the special event.

         Penalty, see Section 118.99

 

SECTION 118.25  EXCEPTIONS TO THE PERMIT.

 

The permit requirement contained in this chapter does not apply to the following:

 

(A)   Special events sponsored and managed by the city;

 

(B)   Funerals and funeral processions;

 

(C)   The grounds of any school, playground, place of worship, hotel conference center, stadium, athletic field, arena, auditorium or similar permanent place of assembly when used for regularly established assembly purposes.

 

SECTION 118.99  PENALTY.

 

(A)   Any permit holder violating any of the provisions of this chapter relating to public dances shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided in ' 10.99, and their public dance permit is suspended immediately at the time of any arrest or citation for violating this chapter.

 

(B)   (1)    Any person who violates any condition of a special event permit or any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable as prescribed by Section 10.99.

 

(2)    Enforcement of this division may, at the Council's discretion, take any of the following forms:

 

(a)    Citation/criminal prosecution;

 

(b)    Injunctions, declaratory judgements or other civil remedies;

 

(c)    Permit revocation;

 

(d)    Disbursement of persons gathered.