A neighbor and Bowling Green administration have expressed “concerns” about the upcoming expanded Porchfest event next month – but present city codes don’t seem to be equipped to provide a solution.
The issue received significant attention during last week’s council meeting.
The Porchfest event, taking place at residences on and near Eberly Avenue, is set for June 4 from 2-6 p.m. This year’s event has reportedly expanded from eight musical acts to 12.
In an April 21 letter addressed to council, members of the city administration and the police division, Eberly resident David Wilson wrote, in part, that during the previous Porchfest, held in August last year, there were problems.
“The public attendees were not controlled and trespassed on our lawns, sat on our porches and littered. At the time we neighbors did not say anything, figuring it was a one-and-done situation, but now must draw the line before this gets out of hand,” Wilson wrote.
At Monday’s meeting, Wilson addressed council, saying in a prepared statement that his remarks were a “declaration of myself and a number of the neighborhood residences’ personal rights and wishes that we must and will defend and protect our property, privacy and security by whatever means necessary with or without the city’s help.
“Many hours and days of undo stress and at a loss of personal working productive client project services, travel and income have been caused by this unnecessary distraction threatening our neighborhood,” Wilson continued. “This is not a private or neighborhood block party, it’s an out-of-control all-out public commercialized activity/event open to the world in a/our residential zoned neighborhood/district.”
Wilson said that while Porchfest is billed as a neighborhood event, the organizers have not contacted all the affected neighbors to get their input and concerns.
“The organizers have no idea who and how many in the neighborhood are not in favor of their plans. They do not have the facilities (restrooms) nor approved parking lots,” Wilson said. “Stop this event here and now, relocate it to any of the number of city venues (which we pay taxes to maintain by the way) that have the facilities and parking spaces to properly and effectively handle this type and size of any event/activity (for all the right reasons).”
Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said that the administration started looking into whether permits would be applicable for the event, first seeing if it would fall under a block party permit.
However, she said the organizers did not request one, and such a permit can’t be used for events open to the public, and so a block party permit would not apply.
The administration then looked at whether a special event permit would apply. Tretter said those are used fairly frequently for events in town. She said, however, that the first line of Chapter 111 of the city’s codified ordinances, which deals with special event permits, says such permits are required for special events held on public property.
“This event is kind of threading a needle a bit because the music is going on on private porches,” Tretter said. “But we also understand it could impact the public. So we weren’t quite sure what to do with this.”
She said that they had heard from a number of residents about the issue and asked the Porchfest organizers to meet with members of the administration. Tretter said they talked with the organizers and made them aware of the concerns, and that gathering people in an area can have impacts that they couldn’t control.
Tretter said the administration recommended that they apply for a special event permit, but that the organizers chose not to do so.
She said that the administration didn’t feel that Chapter 111 could compel them to do so, either. Tretter said they told the organizers that, if things go on during the event that do impact public property, that would change future conversations.
“Our group did feel that the Porchfest organizers were responsive,” Tretter said, telling the administration they would post and notify people which lawns were not included in the event, and it was discussed that people have the right not to have others on their lawns.
Tretter said they also spoke about safety and logistics. The administration shared concerns about public events, and encouraged organizers to utilize a public property location like Wooster Green.
“I think that the Porchfest organizers are trying to do something nice for the community,” Tretter said. “But we also are concerned that they could impact other people in the neighborhood in a negative way.”
Answering a question from Councilman Greg Robinette about why it was being treated like a private event, Tretter again noted that it is taking place on private property.
“We’re trying to listen and respect them,” she said. “But we do have concerns about public safety as we always do. … We are aware of it and I would say that we are concerned, that’s why we met with organizers, because we want this to be a safe event.”
However, Tretter said, the city doesn’t know the correct way to handle it under the current permitting process.
“We’re in a different area for us,” Tretter said. “This is a different kind of event than the city has really faced before, so I think it’s good we’re having public conversation about it and the best way to balance things.”
Councilman Jeff Dennis, who said he attended the event last year, asked if the administration has had any discussions about how to regulate the matter further. Tretter said they had not, and would look to council’s direction on the matter.
“I suggest that as a council, I think we’ve exposed a gap in our code,” Robinette said.
They need to clearly answer when a concert held on private property in a residential zoning district ceases to be a private party and becomes a festival, he said. His suggestion is that change happens when the public is invited to attend.
“It’s just that we’ve got no section of the code for the city to look to,” Robinette said, saying that in his opinion, Porchfest crosses the line into a festival.
“Given the scope of this event and the public invitation,” Robinette said, it seems the city has the obligation to see to the health and safety of the public.
