ADMINISTRATION - Cathy Sorensen, City Clerk
Title
CONSIDER A SPECIAL EVENTS LICENSE FOR A 5K RUN LOCATED AT THE NATIONAL SPORTS CENTER, 1700 105TH AVENUE NE, NIGHT NATION, OCTOBER 7, 2017
Background
Frank Brown, TMT Productions, has applied for a Special Event License to hold a 5K fun run at the National Sports Center on Saturday, October 7. Night Nation Run would open at 5:00 p.m. with a pre-party at 6:00 p.m., the run beginning at 7:00 p.m. followed by an after-party. The event would include live amplified music, DJs along the entire route, alcohol, lights and lasers and conclude at 10:00 p.m. TMT Productions has partnered with Stand Up 2 Cancer for this event and anticipates attendance of 4,000-7,000 people.
The applicant has deposited the appropriate license and deposit fees and certificate of insurance. They propose to utilize an alcohol caterer for the event and liquor liability insurance naming the City as additional insured has been received.
Traffic and parking is indicated on the attached maps. The applicant is proposing to use police staff at crosswalks for pedestrians crossing to the parking lots north of 105th Avenue into the stadium area. They intend to utilize the same parking layout as the soccer tournament earlier in the day and email parking instructions to direct participants to the lots from Davenport Street to minimize traffic on 105th Avenue.
Engineering staff has confirmed that the gravel lots on the north side of the campus will not have any pedestrian access to cross 105th Avenue during construction. By event time 105th Avenue will not have any access to the south two lanes as they will be under complete reconstruction and not accessible. For safety reasons people will not be allowed to cross the construction zone at all and the fact that this event is being held in the evening makes this especially concerning as the corridor is does not have street lighting. All pedestrians will need to be directed to Davenport Street to the existing sidewalk to cross 105th Avenue.
Staff learned of this event after seeing it advertised online, prior to any application being received. While the applicant had inquired in July about hosting an event he did not share the anticipated attendance and indicated shuttles would be used in conjunction with offsite parking. The applicant was instructed to remove the event from their website until license approval but to date that has not occurred. The applicant instead included language “final course details pending approval” and extended the date for discount pricing.
Staff has reviewed the application and is recommending denial of the special event license based on the following findings:
1) 105th Avenue will be under complete reconstruction at event time with only two lanes open for traffic with no shoulders and could not adequately support increased traffic levels for the event which based on the applicant’s website states an average attendance of 13,000
Recommendation
Consider the Special Events License for the Night Nation Run located at the National Sports Center, 1700 105th Avenue NE on Saturday, October 7, 2017.