Title
Authorizing the Park Superintendent to Approve Certain Park Event Permits Temporarily Due to Ongoing COVID Restrictions That Will Allow Events and Encourage Use of Park Spaces for Economic Recovery
Body
WHEREAS, the Board of Park Commissioners has the statutory authority, under Wis. Stat. ยง27.08(2)(a), to govern, manage, control, improve and care for all public parks within the City of Madison, and to secure the quiet, orderly and suitable use and enjoyment thereof by the people, and to adopt rules and regulations to promote those purposes; and
WHEREAS, the primary mission of Madison Parks is to provide residents and visitors with open space and facilities for recreation and relaxation. Under regulated circumstances, a park event permit can be used to reserve park space for a special event; and
WHEREAS, On February 12, 2020, the Board of Park Commissioners (BPC), by Legislative File #59486, delegated park event review and approval authority to the Park Superintendent and the Facilities, Programs and Fees Subcommittee (FPFS) under certain conditions, which requires all but recurring events with no changes to be reviewed and approved by the FPFS and/or BPC at a public meeting; and
WHEREAS, On April 15, 2020, the Board of Park Commissioners (BPC), by Legislative File
#60250, approved temporary procedures allowing the Superintendent to review and approve recurring events with significant changes, and referring new events back to the BPC for approval, until such time as the FPFS is allowed to resume meeting again and the FPFS has been allowed to resume meetings virtually so the temporary process from File # 60250 is no longer in place; and
WHEREAS, this means that all events in parks, other than recurring events with no changes, require review and approval by a public body, and this necessarily creates some lag time in the approval process as applicants must wait for a regularly scheduled meeting to receive approval; and
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 Pandemic has...
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