A new ordinance recently passed by the Santa Maria City Council has stirred some not-so-good feelings among the city’s business owners.
On Aug. 3, the City Council voted
3-2 to approve a “good neighbor” ordinance aimed at making it easier for law enforcement to issue public disturbance citations to businesses and groups that hold large events.
In addition to helping with enforcement, the goal of the new ordinance is to help streamline the process of applying for an event license, according to city staffers. Currently, businesses or organizers wanting to hold an event must apply for one of three different licenses, and wait for the city to get back to them with a list of requirements.
“We’re hoping to bring the whole process under one regulatory roof,” Assistant City Attorney Wendy Stockton said.
According to the city attorney’s office, all current code requirements—like occupancy limits and noise control—will remain the same, but will be managed under the same roof.
Another issue the city is hoping to address with the new ordinance, Stockton said, is a lack of clarity in the city’s code. Under the current licensing process, requirements are scattered throughout the municipal code without being tied to a specific event.
Stockton hopes that bringing all the requirements together will help make the process less confusing.
“The difference [under the new ordinance] is that by saying, ‘Here are those expectations ahead of time,’ it will be very easy for us to either say ‘yes’ or ‘here are your requirements,’” she explained. “Attention is really being paid to the concept that we identify our expectations so people don’t have to wait.”
Stockton said a business or event requires a good neighbor license if it is “new, charging money, and open to the public.”
Existing businesses and events that don’t require a license are still subject to the requirements of the ordinance.
“Good neighbor requirements are, by and large, common sense—you can’t make too much noise, you can’t cause such a ruckus that your neighbors can’t go about their lives. It’s kind of a golden rule: we want a human being to be responsible,” Stockton said.
However, one of those proposed policy changes has some people concerned: lack of public input.
“What we have under the old ordinance that wouldn’t be there under the new is a trip to the City Council to give people a chance to weigh in,” Stockton said.
Skipping on that trip to the Council is one of the reasons why City Council member Hilda Zacarías voted against the ordinance. Councilwoman Alice Patino also voted against the ordinance.
“I don’t want people to be fooled by the title ‘good neighbor.’ I think the title communicates intent and policies that a good neighbor environment are a good thing,” Zacarías said. “I am concerned that there’s absolutely no ability for elected officials or the public to have any say.”
Another concern, Zarcarías said, was that there are no expiration dates for licenses granted under the new ordinance. Under the old licensing, permits generally expired after a year. Now, they’re permanent.
“Our role as Council is to really understand what’s happening in the community, and to be involved,” Zacarías added.
Stockton noted that of the three event licenses currently issued by the city, two of them—the itinerant show and the dance permits—are already issued without involvement from the Council.
“We’re replacing those three separate licenses with one license; it’s kind of like a consolidation for efficiency,” she said.
Zacarías noted that she sees the need for a good neighbor policy, and would in fact “love to have an additional tool” to help enforce it, but she thinks it’s important that the process involve public input.
“I want something that actually creates good neighbors, not allows a non-public process to dictate what’s going to happen in our community,” she explained.
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 12-19, 2010.