For anyone who’s hosted an event in Golden and felt the city’s event-permitting process favored some events over others, city officials are looking to level the playing field.
City Councilors and staff members have proposed updating the city’s special events permitting process to be more equitable and transparent, and to hold itself and event-holders more accountable.
Some of the proposed changes include the city either scaling back or changing how the city offers some events free assistance — whether through grants or in-kind donations — and requiring a post-event evaluation.
During a May 14 City Council work session, Thriving Communities Director Sarah Vaine outlined several proposed changes to the city’s current process.
Currently, only brand-new events have to go before the Special Events Review Committee, which evaluates the proposal on several criteria:
- Whether it’s family friendly and/or additive to the community;
- Whether it’s reasonable in terms of impact and doesn’t overly stress community resources;
- Whether it conflicts with other events happening in the city, or is duplicative of other events in the community; and
- Whether the organizers are known for poor behavior in other communities.
Once SERC has approved the event, organizers can simply reapply for a permit as an existing/previously held event.
Mayor Laura Weinberg explained that, around 2015, when Denver changed its events rules and policies, several Denver-based events wanted to move to Golden. Thus, Golden’s event-permitting process was “geared toward reviewing only new events,” she said.
Vaine said one challenge with the current system is that some “legacy events,” which have been in the community for a long time and have special meaning to locals, have longstanding agreements with the city for in-kind donations or some other form of financial assistance.
“There are agreements that have been made over time that haven’t been made for other, newer events,” she said. “ … It’s not a fair process. People want to understand more readily how that decision was made.”
Weinberg said she supported most of the proposed changes, especially those relating to equity. She wanted to ensure event-holders “are treated the same across the board.”
However, Councilor Don Cameron wondered about “legacy events” like Buffalo Bill Days and the Lions Club’s Fourth of July event, which receive some form of financial support from the city. He said he’d support drafting a not-to-exceed number regarding the city’s financial support, while treating non-legacy events consistently.
“They’re considered legacy events because they’re iconic,” he said. “ … Why treat them differently? Because they’re different.”
However, Weinberg and others pushed back, saying it’d be “cherry-picking” certain events over others and go against the idea of making the process more equitable process.
“There are many (groups) that hold their events here that would say: ‘Our event is just as important,’” Weinberg said.
Vaine added that all events and event-holders are important to the city, saying, “They’re all good partners.”
Increased transparency, accountability
On the transparency front, Vaine recommended SERC meetings should either be made open to the public and/or be recorded.
She also believed that, if the city doesn’t allow an event back because it was mismanaged or the like, locals deserve to know why. She recommended the city require after-event evaluations, so everyone can see examples of best practices and/or lessons learned.
Councilor Paul Haseman agreed after-event evaluations would be ideal, adding that they should be made public.
“It could be justification for ‘Let’s do this every year for the next 10 years’ or ‘Let’s think about this,’” he said.
Vaine also outlined possible changes like requiring satellite parking and shuttles for very large-scale events, saying Golden’s Ore Cart shuttles have been underutilized for commuting to events thus far.
Golden and its event-holders should also offer more bike parking and do better about managing pedestrian traffic, such as crossing guards, she added.
Regarding communication, Vaine believed Golden’s increased communications regarding event-related street closures, parking options and the like were helping alleviate congestion. However, she and Councilor Patty Evans said event-holders need to do better about communicating on their own platforms too.