San Mateo Municipal Code Ch. 13.10 Park Permits

The City shall provide for the permitted use of park properties and facilities for special events in accordance with Chapter 17.34.

prior code § 77.08

The City Manager, Director of Parks and Recreation or designated representative may issue permits in order to provide for special events or any reservation for exclusive use of park properties or facilities. Use permits are required for the following uses or activities:

(a) Any use or activity that involves 50 or more people.

(b) Any use or activity that involves the establishment of a free-standing structure, including, but not limited to, jumpers and bounce houses.

(c) The use of City-scheduled facilities by an organized athletic group.

(d) The exclusive use or reservation of park properties or facilities.

(e) Any use or activity that enters upon, crosses, uses or remains upon the elevated stage area at Central Park.

(f) Soliciting or conducting commercial activity.

(g) Any use of amplified sound as described in Section 13.20.020, Amplified sound.

(h) Any use that obstructs, or stops the flow of traffic in, along, or upon the grounds or premises of a park property or facility.

(a) The following regulations apply to the issuance of park permits:

(1) No park properties or facilities will be reserved for more than one year in advance of the time of use except by approval of the City Manager or Director of Parks and Recreation or designated representative.

(2) City of San Mateo residents will receive first priority for permits at the time of application. Once a permit is issued, the permittee will not lose his or her permit due to resident priority. Park permits will be processed in the order of receipt of a completed application form.

(3) Events, programs, classes, lessons, tournaments sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department and persons holding a valid Parks and Recreation Department permit have priority for use of park properties and facilities.

(4) Any damages to park properties and facilities caused by any person attending a permit group activity shall be charged to and paid by the permit group.

(5) Unless any one of the following is shown to exist, the Community Service Manager or designated representative shall issue the permit upon the criteria set forth in this chapter: (i) the City has no park property or facility available which will accommodate the activity or which use would not leave at least 25% of the park property or facility physical space or time available for the use of the general public; (ii) the park property or facility requested has already been permitted to another group or person or is needed for programs sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department; (iii) the applicant refuses to agree or does not have the authority to comply in writing with all the conditions described herein of the permit; (iv) the applicant has not tendered the required application fee or user fee with the application or the insurance certificate or security deposit prior to permit issuance; (v) the applicant cannot provide sufficient permit monitors at the rate of one monitor for every 50 participants; (vi) the applicant has been found utilizing park properties or facilities scheduled by the Department without a valid use permit on two or more occasions over the previous six-month period of time; (vii) the applicant is in violation of City ordinances or permit conditions; (viii) the applicant provided incomplete or incorrect information in the application; (ix) the event would present an unreasonable danger to the health and safety of the applicant, or to other users of the park property or facility or to the public or presents an unreasonable threat of damage to park property or is unlawful or obscene.

(6) The Director may require a permittee to provide public liability and property damage insurance with indemnification provisions as may be appropriate to protect the park properties and facilities and the public using such park properties and facilities.

(7) No person shall fail to produce and exhibit a permit he or she claims to have upon request of any department employee or any peace officer who desires to inspect the permit for the purpose of enforcing compliance with any regulations of this chapter. The Director may revoke any permit issued for failure to comply with the requirements of this section.

(8) Within 14 days of receipt of a completed application form, the City shall make a decision on a permit application and shall immediately communicate by telephone and in writing that decision to the applicant. Any person may appeal a permit decision by filing with the City Clerk an appeal in writing to the Director of Parks and Recreation within seven days of notification of the permit decision. The decision of the Director of Parks and Recreation shall be made within 24 hours of the appeal and shall be the final administrative decision of the City, appealable to the Superior Court under the provisions of Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, except that expedited proceedings may be had under the provisions of Section 1094.8 for permits regarding expressive conduct, at the discretion of the appellant.

(b) For special event permits, the provisions of Chapter 17.34 apply.

Some activities and uses are allowed without permit in the public square. The public squares are specified for purposes of public expression and are designated as public forums for the dissemination of both verbal and written messages, subject to reasonable time and manner restrictions set forth in Section 13.10.045. Public demonstrations or picketing or leafleting, except as allowed herein in a public square, are not allowed within park facilities. Notwithstanding such limitation, nothing herein shall be construed to limit the use of parks for purposes of public expression by groups of less than 50 persons, when such parks are open to the public, or to limit such use by permit of any park property or facility by groups of all sizes, or such use of adjacent public forums, such as sidewalks within the public right-of-way. The following areas are designated as public squares: (1) the large interior lawn area in the middle of Central Park containing the flagpole; (2) the lawn area 50 feet west of the skate park, 50 feet east of the garden plots whose southern boundary is in line with the southern boundary of the skate park and whose northern boundary is in line with southern boundary of the basketball court area at Beresford Park; (3) the lawn area behind the ballfield bleachers at Bayside Joinville Park; and (4) the passive lawn area east of the King Park picnic area bordered by the ballfield, the parking lot and the main pathway through the park.

The following restrictions shall apply in areas designated as a public square:

(a) No amplified sound is allowed except with permit under Section 13.10.020.

(b) No distribution or publication of written material, nor dissemination of any verbal message, nor depiction or portrayal of a theatrical nature, that is obscene, is allowed.

(c) Activities in the public square are limited to the hours of operation (periods when open to the public) applicable to the park within which the public square is located.