City Council Meeting: January 8, 2007
Agenda Item: 7-A
To: Mayor and City Council
From:
Subject: Modification
to Municipal Codes 4.08.025 and 4.08.060 Relating to Water Activities, Surfing,
and Surfing Instruction
Recommended
Action
Staff recommends that the City Council introduce
for first reading the attached proposed ordinance to amend Municipal Code
Sections 4.08.025 and 4.08.060 relating to regulation of water activities at
Executive
Summary
The attached proposed ordinances
address beach use conflicts that have arisen from a recent proliferation of
commercial surf instruction on
Discussion
Surfing has long been an integral part of the
Current
Regulation of Surf Instruction and Group Youth Water Activity
Currently SMMC 4.08.025 requires that any group of 20 or more children that enter the water for any water activity, including surfing, obtain a Beach/Water Activity Permit from the City’s Open Space Management Division. Pursuant to the current ordinance, Beach/Water Activity Permits for specific areas of the beach are issued on a first-come-first-served basis to a limited number of youth groups, some of which include surf schools. Currently, these permits do not require operators to meet any specified health and safety standards or professional qualifications. Last year, 23 applications were received from youth surf camp operators for the three locations identified by the Los Angeles County Lifeguards and City staff as suitable for surf instruction. Four applications were received for other types of youth groups conducting water activities and three permits were granted.
This ordinance was passed in 2004 at the request of Los Angeles County Lifeguards who needed advance notice to provide adequate lifeguard coverage when large groups of children would be entering the water. At the time the ordinance was recommended and passed, the Los Angeles County Lifeguards and City staff concluded that the safety issues and water use conflicts would be significantly reduced if large youth groups were regulated through the permit process and other groups such as adults and smaller youth groups remained free to use the water without a permit. In spite of this targeted regulation, staff now estimates there were approximately ten surf schools during summer 2007 that were operating without the need for a permit. This unprojected and intensive group use resulted in numerous complaints by other beach users and recreational surfers that their enjoyment and use of the beach was diminished. In addition, excessive numbers of surfers have occasionally forced the Los Angeles County Lifeguards to “black ball” specific intensively used areas of the beach, prohibiting surfing for anyone, in order to ensure safety of all in the water.
Surf Instruction through City Community Programs
In addition to issuing permits for large groups of
children, the City also contracts with qualified surf instructors to offer
surfing lessons through the City’s Community Programs Division. The City conducts an annual competitive bid process for contracting
with these instructors and selects those proposals that provide the greatest
variety of quality group and individual lessons. Among the criteria used to evaluate proposals
are the proposer’s professional qualifications, safety practices, scope of
services, and other community benefits such as subsidized instruction for low
income students. The City handles all
participant registrations and the contractor receives a percentage of the fees
collected. Over 1,000 registrations are
received annually, of which over 90% are from youth.
Proposed Changes
SMMC 4.08.060:
Staff recommends expanded regulation of surf instruction through changes
to SMMC 4.08.060 to reflect that all surfing instruction, training, or coaching
for compensation, regardless of where the financial transaction takes place,
the size of the group, or the age of the participants, be prohibited unless
authorized by the City through a Community Programs contract or Open Space
Management permit.
Staff
recommends that SMMC 4.08.060 authorize a new Surfing Instruction Permit to be
issued by the Open Space Management Division.
The Permit would be issued with priority first to the City’s Community
Program contractors, who offer affordable classes for the community, and
secondly to accredited educational institutions offering surfing instruction
for course credit. Other permits, such
as permits for high-quality individual and walk-up instruction, would be
awarded on a competitive basis such as through a Request for Proposals
process. Criteria that may be used to
evaluate proposals in a competitive process include proposers’ experience,
references, health and safety plan, financial capability, and rental bid. Rent in the form of a percentage of gross receipts
will be charged, representing a new revenue stream to the Beach Fund, which
will be used to off-set expenses related to the administration of such permits
and maintenance of beach facilities.
Staff recommends that the number of Surfing Instruction Permits issued vary by season based on lifeguard recommendations for public safety, public demand for lessons, and other current beach activities and uses. For the summer of 2008, staff estimates that permits would be issued for the City’s Community Programs around Tower 29 and north of the Pier, and for accredited educational institutions and individual and walk-up instruction around Tower 18.
SMMC 4.08.025: Staff further recommends changing SMMC 4.08.025 that governs the issuance of the current Beach/Water Activity Permits to exclude group surf instruction, which would now be regulated pursuant to SMMC 4.08.060, and to focus on other water activities of youth groups of 20 children or more. The change provides for two types of permits. “On-going” permits would be issued to groups with more than 20 children that enter the water more than once a week such as daily sand camps. “Occasional Use” permits would be issued to groups with more than 20 children that enter the water less than once a week such as church groups and summer schools. “On-going” permits would be issued on a lottery basis to those applicants that meet minimum safety criteria and to clarify the intent and purpose of the ordinance. “Occasional Use” permits would continue to be issued on a first come first served basis.
Effectiveness of Proposed Changes
Staff
will present an assessment of summer beach activity and the impacts of the
ordinance changes, if enacted, to the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission in
the fall of 2008. In particular, staff
will assess the need for further modifications in regards to:
·
Permit duration
·
Minimum permit requirements
·
Differentiating between youth and adult instruction
·
Differentiating between individual and group instruction
·
Fees for permits and/or percentage return from Community Programs
·
Number and location of permits and contracts
·
Alternatives
The
Council may choose any of the following alternatives:
·
Make no changes
to the ordinance and allow unregulated commercial
surf lessons to continue except for groups of 20 children or more;
·
Prohibit all
surf instruction on
·
Direct staff to
contract with a single concessionaire to provide all surf instruction on
Public Outreach
A public meeting was held on November 12, 2007, to
solicit input from affected stakeholders.
Attendees of the meeting included local residents and surfers,
contracted, permitted, and unregulated surf school owners, parents of surf
students, and LA County Lifeguards. A
large majority of the comments received were supportive of more regulation,
however, opinions varied on the number and location of permits that should be
issued annually. In general,
recreational surfers and other beach goers prefer that surfing instruction take
place only north of the Pier. However,
in general, surfing instructors feel that the surf north of the pier is less
appropriate for instruction and that difficulties accessing the beach from
On December 8, 2007, the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission reviewed the proposed ordinance changes and took public comment. Approximately 20 members of the public attended, including many from the Nov. 12th meeting. Public testimony closely echoed that received at the previous meeting. The Commission voted unanimously to support staff’s recommendation and the proposed ordinance with the following recommendations.
· Remove the possibility of a jail sentence from the penalties section of the ordinance. Staff recommends the penalty section remain as it is consistent with other health and safety ordinances.
· Include a minimum requirement for instructor qualifications, such as appropriate health and safety certifications; a minimum requirement for health and safety practices, such as student to instructor ratios; and a minimum requirement for instructor experience. Staff has committed to including these criteria in the permit application requirements. The City’s RFP process for Community Programs already includes such minimum criteria.
·
Ensure that hotel guests can receive individual
surfing instruction upon request. Staff
is recommending that individual and walk-up instruction be allowed by permit at
or near Tower 18 – the location most convenient to
· Prohibit the placement of commercial banners and advertising on the beach in association with surfing schools. SMMC 9.52.150 already provides the necessary authority to prohibit such advertising and banner placement. Staff of the Department of Community and Cultural Services will work with SMPD to address enforcement needs.
·
Limit the term of a permit to approximately
three weeks to allow a variety of surfing instructors to receive permits. Staff has committed to revisiting this
recommendation along with other alternatives after next summer.
The City
also has contacted a number of accredited educational institutions known to
offer or be interested in surfing instruction on
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
Adoption of the proposed ordinance may increase revenues to
the Community Programs Division as the primary source of surfing lessons and
will create a new revenue stream to the Beach Fund through payments by permit
holders of a percentage of their gross receipts. There is no immediate necessary budget
action.
Prepared by: Trinie García-Valdez, Community Use
Administrator
Callie Hurd, Open
Space Manager
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Approved: |
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Forwarded to Council: |
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Director, Community & Cultural
Services |
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P. City
Manager |