HomeMy WebLinkAbout021423-03.2
STUDY SESSION MEMORANDUM 3.2
TO: Mayor and Town Council February 14, 2023
SUBJECT: Community Events Safety and Resource Management
BACKGROUND
The Town of Danville annually hosts several large-scale community events that attract
thousands of spectators and support local businesses. These events require coordinated
planning and logistics involving event organizers and the Town to ensure the safety of
participants.
This memorandum follows up on the November 1, 2022 Town Council Study Session,
where event safety, Town resources, and collaborative event support were discussed. At
that Study Session, the Community Events Team recommended:
1. Defining and standardizing event area limits and accompanying road closures to
provide safe detour routes and maximize exposure to businesses along the
pedestrian corridor downtown (i.e. Hartz Avenue and Prospect Avenue).
2. Based upon recommendation #1, installing a flexible, in-ground road closure
solution in the form of retractable bollards.
3. Considering the possibility of having event organizers incur the actual costs for
contracted road closure services.
4. Expanding support of collaborative events with economic vitality components
that support multiple businesses and do not require street closures.
The Town Council provided the following feedback and continued the item to a future
study session for further discussion.
1. There was no consensus in support of standardizing event road closure limits for
future events.
2. There was consensus to support future events that are collaborative and have a
positive impact on the local business community, without the need for road
closures.
3. The Town Council requested staff provide:
• locations and costs for the installation of retractable bollards for further
review; and
• estimated event and contractor costs for road closures for further review.
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DISCUSSION
The Town has received twelve “Intent to Host” applications for 2023. The Town Council
will be considering these as part of the February 21, 2023 regular Town Council meeting.
Of the twelve events proposed, only three will require additional safety measures for
road closures (i.e. the July 4th Parade, the Hot Summer Sunday Car Show, and the
Lighting of the Old Oak Tree). Three additional events that required additional safety
measures last year will not be returning in 2023 (Summerfest, Fallfest, and one car show).
Contracted Costs
In order to support these three events in 2022, it was necessary to deploy a combination
of mobile vehicle barriers (i.e. Meridian barricades) and contracted services that were
utilized to erect and remove standard event barricades. The total cost for the three events
was $20,267 (Summerfest and two Hot Summer Sundays Car Shows).
Based upon the need to accommodate three events for 2023, the Danville Maintenance
Services team will manage standard road closures and Meridian Rapid Defense Group
will be contracted to deploy their barriers, which are currently stored at the Town offices.
This approach becomes feasible due to the reduction of events and resource needs.
Contracting only for the deployment of Meridian barricades, the estimated cost for the
three events is reduced to $14,500.
Moving forward, the FY 2023/24 Community Events budget will recommend funds be
allocated to contracted services to cover the cost of these three events. Additional events
requiring road closures would increase contract costs.
Retractable Bollards
The use of permanent solutions such as retractable bollards must be considered in
tandem with other factors, including the number of events hosted and the boundaries
established for those events. The initial recommendation to install retractable bollards
was made assuming that multiple events would utilize the same space along Hartz
Avenue and East Prospect Avenue. This is no longer the situation.
The estimated cost to purchase and install semi-retractable bollards is estimated to range
from $50,000 to $100,000 per intersection ($5,000 per bollard, with standard 4-foot on-
center installation). This estimate does not include planning and design, which would
add further costs and time.
Significantly, the current three events that require increased safety measures to reduce
vehicle intrusion all have different event boundaries. The cost of the bollards, the current
backlog of capital project work that the Town has scheduled over the next three years,
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plus the lack of coterminous event boundaries makes the construction of retractable
bollards impractical. On this basis, staff is no longer recommending proceeding with
permanent bollard infrastructure for temporary road closures at this time.
Collaborative Community Events
Moving forward, the Community Events Team will work to develop criteria that support
collaborative events that are beneficial to the local community and businesses without
extensive road closures. The goal is to identify opportunities to determine what resources
could be used to support collaborative events with businesses and business
organizations. One such event is the Health & Wellness Event in partnership with the
Danville Area Chamber of Commerce in the planning stages for October 2023.
Recommendations for allocating potential support funds would be brought back to the
Town Council for consideration at a later date.
Town staff is requesting that the Town Council provide feedback related to the
recommendations presented.
After receiving input from the Town Council, Town staff intends to work with
community partners to seek input and further collaborate on updates to the Community
Events Program and business support programs. Further, any fiscal changes to the
Community Events or Business Promotion Budget would be presented for consideration
as part of the FY 2023/24 Fiscal Operating Budget review process.
Prepared by:
Lianna Adauto
Economic Development Specialist
Reviewed by:
Jill Bergman
Business & Economic Development Director