HomeMy WebLinkAboutA002 - Memo dated April 3, 2007 to City Attorney reference TOP changes f �
Karen C Thompson/COA To Doug Marek/COA@COA
04/03/2007 03:10 PM cc Judy K Parks/COA@COA, Diane R Voss/COA@COA
bcc
Subject temporary obstructions-Sec.22.4
Doug
The staff recommendation to change insurance requirements for TOPs went out in Council Packets last
Friday, and we are hoping they will refer the issue back to you at the meeting on April 10. In the
meantime, another wrinkle in this section has surfaced. Ed Gillott pointed out that 22.4(3)(m) under
sidewalk cafes-- limiting operations to April 1 through October 31 --seems to be in conflict with
22.4(3)(o), which refers to permits being valid for a maximum period of one year.
Judy and I were discussing Ed's point, and we started wondering if the entire section on "term and
renewal"should be re-written for sidewalk cafes. The way we have actually been handling these is to
issue a seasonal permit(valid April 1 through Oct. 31) each year, but section (o) may call that into
question or be misleading to the public. (We had an issue with a restaurant owner over this.)Also, since
we have been handling these as seasonal permits, it would be better if all references to"extensions"or
"additional periods"could be removed, and make it clear that we want applicants to re-apply each year.
When the Council refers the insurance section back to you, would it be possible to sneak in some
clarification?
Karen
P.S. At some point, I hope it will be possible to do a more comprehensive re-write of this whole section.
Judy and I noticed, for example, that there are no sections that refer to"term and renewal"or"revocation"
of TOPs in general-- both sections with those headings are under the provisions for sidewalk cafes. In
1996 there were requests from four downtown businesses to have decorative planters on the sidewalks in
the CBD on a year-round basis, and that was allowed. Then, in 1997, the Council approved a motion
"authorizing the City Manager to grant Temporary Obstruction Permits for up to one year for the
placement of planters on downtown city sidewalks." (Based on the spirit of that motion, we have also
approved annual permits for other types of decorative pieces now.) I don't know if this should have been
introduced as part of the code or not, but it wasn't.
Finally, now that I've looked through all this, it occurs to me that maybe the entire section pertaining to
sidewalk cafes should stand alone--as does Section 22.24 for newspaper dispensers.Ah, well, that is
probably an issue for another day....