HomeMy WebLinkAbout041222-03.1STUDY SESSION MEMORANDUM 3.1
TO: Mayor and Town Council April 12, 2022
SUBJECT: Community Events – Planning and Logistics to Enhance Safety
BACKGROUND
One of the main purposes of the Community Events Program is to bring community
members and visitors together in ways that promote economic vitality in Danville.
Events increase foot traffic in the downtown corridor and result in an influx of visitors
and customers that patronize local businesses.
Event planning and logistics for the Community Events Program is managed by a
Community Events Team (CET) that partners with event organizers to implement
standards for safety and security. This team is comprised of representatives from the
Town’s Economic Development, Maintenance and Police departments and the San
Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. As members of the CET change over time, new
members provide a fresh perspective often leading to stronger logistic and resource
management. The CET also gains insight from reviewing experiences of events staged in
other local communities, particularly where safety related matters are concerned.
Over the years, policies, guidelines, checklists, and event agreements have been
developed to formalize the understanding between the event organizer and the Town to
ensure all parties are contributing to the overall success of the event. This approach to
resource management and logistics planning has led to improved road closures and
safety for attendees, proper detours around event limits and better days/times of the
week to host events to minimize impacts associated with commute, church, and school
schedules. These improvements allow the CET to effectively manage the level and extent
of Town resources required to support events as well as support the event organizer.
A recent example of this process involves a CET recommendation to adjust the route for
this year’s July 4th Parade by ending the parade at Town and Country Drive rather than
Sycamore Valley Road. This adjustment will allow for a simplified street closure which
improves logistic management and allows employees and customers to easily access
businesses in the Livery, Town & County and Sycamore Square shopping centers and so
that residents can access homes off Boone Court. This recommendation was shared with
CE Planning & Logistics Safety 2 April 12, 2022
the event organizer, Kiwanis Club of the San Ramon Valley, who wholly agreed with the
proposed modifications, since it will considerably improve their logistic requirements for
the parade.
Further, over time, the CET has also found that taking back responsibility for placing and
removing road closures alleviates the need to readjust closures that may be improperly
installed by event organizers’ staff and volunteers.
DISCUSSION
The Town’s CET recently re-evaluated event safety logistics, particularly related to road
closures for large-scale events and identified a need to strengthen road closure methods
to further safeguard against potential risks associated with high-speed vehicle entry. Last
November, upgraded security measures were deployed at the 2021 Lighting of the Old
Oak Tree event to address this type of concern.
The CET also identified the need to implement additional safety measures for all large-
scale events requiring significant road closures to reduce the ability for high-speed
vehicles to enter a defined area. This would involve a combination of recommended
temporary measures for 2022-2023 and permanent measures for future events.
Phase 1 – 2022-2023
The following road closure safety measures for large-scale community events are
recommended:
1. Barricade Safety
Identify high-speed entry points for all events and deploy steel vehicle
barricades (Meridian Barriers) at those locations
Supplement closure with standard Type 2 and 3 barricades and placement
of Town vehicles at other event boundary locations
Limit the level of support from event organizers/volunteers to
erect/dismantle road closures
2. Contracted Services
To ensure safety and proper deployment of equipment within resource
availability, the CET will determine whether Town staff or a third-party
vendor will be utilized to perform road closures for a specific event.
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Contracted services for road closures for a large-scale event such as
Summerfest is approximately $6,000+/-. This includes equipment and set-
up/take-down of road closure to supplement the deployment of steel
barricades proposed for key intersections. The Town’s current arrangement
with Meridian Rapid Defense Group, allows the Town to utilize their steel
vehicle barricades in exchange for storing the barricades at a Town facility.
A funding source will need to be identified for other road closure
contracted services.
Because event set-up and take-down varies by event, the Town cannot
ensure resource (staff) availability. The CET has determined that four
events (Summerfest, Fallfest and the two Hot Summer Sundays car shows)
would require the use of contracted road closure services.
Phase 2 - 2023-2024
In addition to implementing Phase 1, Phase 2 would include more long-term
programmatic and infrastructure recommendations:
1. Event Limits
Identify opportunities to adjust and standardize event limits (harden event
boundaries) to further address safety concerns, improve traffic circulation
around events, and manage resources rather than define limits proposed by
event organizers (to be implemented as early as 2023)
Identify locations for capital infrastructure improvements, such as
hydraulic bollard systems, which can easily be deployed and permanently
delineate event limits to establish proper road detour routes (to be
implemented as early as 2024).
When determining budgetary implications, historically the Town has absorbed event
logistics costs through the Community Events budget, which is not standard practice in
other jurisdictions. Given proposed additional safety measures will have an ongoing cost
associated with them, there is a need to discuss if some or all these costs should be shared
with the event organizers. Table 1 illustrates the types of fees event organizers are
responsible for in neighboring communities.
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Table 1: Community Events Fees by Jurisdiction
City
Police
Staffing
Fee
Fire
Staffing
Fee Maintenance
Staffing Fee Application
Fee
Road
Closure
Fee Encroachment
Permit Fee
Security/
Cleaning
Deposit
Promotional
Fees
(i.e.
banners,
social
media, etc.)
Business
License
Fee
Danville X X
Concord X X X X X X X
Livermore X X X X X X X X
Lodi X X X X X X X
Los Gatos X X X X X X X X X
Pleasanton X X X X X X X X X
San Ramon X X X X X X
Stockton X X X X X X X X
Walnut
Creek X X X X X X X
Based on this report, Town staff is requesting that Town Council provide feedback on the
following recommendations for staff to:
1. Standardize future event closure limits for consistent event set-up and safety
perimeters.
2. Continue researching more permanent event safety solutions, such as
retractable bollards, for incorporation into the A-362 Downtown
Improvements project of the Capital Improvement Program.
3. Determine if costs associated with contracted services for road closures should
be covered by the Town, the event sponsors, or shared in some manner.
Prepared by:
Lianna Adauto
Economic Development Specialist
Reviewed by:
Jill Bergman
Business & Economic Development Director