-public comment period ends on August 23
I reviewed the red line version of the proposed code changes and found the following.
First, the current land use code is already a potential nightmare for any property owner in unincorporated Larimer County. If you hold a big assembly on your property you are already subject to too much government oversight in our county. However, due to some vagueness in the details I can see that the current code is more manageable than the proposed code. Currently the permit fee is from $100 to $1,000, with a lot of limitations on how many permits can be given in a calendar year, but I don’t see that it is always strictly followed or enforced.
The proposed code adds a lot of specificity and teeth to the enforcement, indicating that this policy change will usher in much more control by county officials. You might say it is tightening the noose on property owners.
Additionally, because of the very specific language in the proposed code it appears that all political meetings not held in approved assembly areas (such as hotels, churches, parks and other assembly buildings) will be subject to special event permit policies. This is very troubling and in my opinion, a direct violation of the First Amendment right to assemble. These permits are not just to give notice of a meeting, they are to ask the government for permission to assemble and contain a lot of government red tape and extraordinary costs. In fact, the time-lines assumed in applying for a permit are totally unrealistic for many political events ( I am thinking about last minute campaign rallies, protests, etc.).
Here are the most troubling aspects of the code changes:
7.2.1 This code applies to all special events not “explicitly excluded under section 7.2.2”
7.2.2.D. Personal events not requiring a mandatory permit will now be limited to under 100. The current code appears to completely exempt personal events.
7.2.2.H. For elections, only polling places are exempted, therefore all other political gatherings are subject to the special use permit requirements (and if it is not a “personal event” the maximum number allowed without a permit is 40).
7.2.4 Exempted events shall also be required to abide by all of the bureaucratic standards for special events.
7.9 Post-Event documentation will now be a potential requirement.
7.10 Mandatory insurance for all permited events will now be a part of the land use code. Currently the county website says insurance is required, but I did not find it in the land use code. I wonder if they threw that policy into the website without sufficient legal authority and are covering their tracks by trying to insert it into the land use code after the fact? Hence, an additional cost demanded in the code. BTW, what liability does the government have for incidents that occur on private property? This looks to me like a sweetheart deal for insurance companies. To have, or not have insurance should be up to the property owner.
7.11 Collateral (a really big deal, new requirement and new section for special use permits).
This requires the applicant to give the county cash or an irrevocable line of credit, from which the county may draw to insure that the event is conducted according to the county’s requirements. It is not specified, but because of all the potential costs listed (“…grading, site restoration…response by County staff or law enforcement…”) this could be in the thousands of dollars.
7.13 Private Land Events are already a part of the land use code, but the proposed revisions limit special events to no more than 3 per year for residential land and 6 per year for all other land. I am told that this is further restricting special event permitting.
7.16 Definitions. In this section a special event is defined as “any event in unincorporated Larimer County for a gathering of any size, unless excluded In section 7.2.” This definition clearly states that any use of private property to assemble with other citizens for any reason is subject to the scrutiny and permission of the county government. There is no exemption for political meetings, so meetings organized by political parties and held on private property will have to go through the expensive and time consuming permitting process.
Larimer County’s special event land use code is an impractical, expensive, intrusive, and bureaucratic violation of our God given constitutional rights and offensive to the essential principle of private property rights. This part of the land use code does need revision, but not to grow it bigger, it needs to be severely trimmed down to a common sense respect for private property rights, the First Amendment freedom to assemble and other shared community values.
I understand the need for permits for use of the roads and public spaces (except First Amendment guarantees for freedom of assembly rights). However, special events on private property should not require an expensive and time consuming process that is essentially asking for permission from the government to use our own property. It should be reduced to a voluntary notice to the county of any special meeting on private property. If a meeting violates noise limits or excessive bright lights at night or overflow of parking to public spaces, that could be a concern of the county, but to declare that nearly all special events require permission from the government is offensive to the basic principles of liberty upon which our nation was founded.
Larimer County is developing a bad reputation for being too authoritarian, too bureaucratic and too expensive. Lets get back to the values of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It was a good idea 250 years ago and it still is today.
Submit your comments on Larimer County’s proposed Special Events Land Use Code by August 23 at https://engage.larimer.gov/h41202
-Kevin Lundberg
