The Avalon City Council denied an appeal of a request for a special event permit for the Catalina Air Show Tuesday, Aug. 20. Event organizers had appealed city staff’s decision to deny the special event permit, but the council rejected the appeal.
The Catalina Air Show was originally scheduled for Sept. 8 and 9. However, there was a schedule conflict: the Catalina Crossing US Outriggers Championship race was scheduled for the same weekend.
The Avalon City Council denied an appeal of a request for a special event permit for the Catalina Air Show Tuesday, Aug. 20. Event organizers had appealed city staff’s decision to deny the special event permit, but the council rejected the appeal.
The Catalina Air Show was originally scheduled for Sept. 8 and 9. However, there was a schedule conflict: the Catalina Crossing US Outriggers Championship race was scheduled for the same weekend.
Council Member Ralph Morrow recused himself from the vote on the appeal because of his involvement with the outriggers group.
“We had met with the organizers of the outrigger group and worked out the logistics for both events to coincide,” said Dan Teckenoff, one of the air show organizers. “It was difficult, but all parties were in agreement. The city was a little more cautious and felt that the traffic and available moorings for both events in the harbor was detrimental to the outrigger event and their chase boats and voted against the air show.”
Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Wayne Griffin said: “We think the Air Show is a great event and hope the producers find a way to bring it back. At the same time, it’s hard to argue against the Outrigger Race which has been coming to the Island for over 50 years!”
“Unfortunately, there are only so many weekends throughout the year with ‘pretty much guaranteed’ good weather, which is something most event producers need and want,” Griffin said.
According to the staff report by Interim City Manager Denise Radde, the City Council discussed the date conflict at the July 16 council meeting. Air show organizers were advised at that time to submit an application for a special event permit.
Radde’s report also said air show organizers submitted an application for a special event on Aug. 2.
On Aug. 6, the issue was placed on the City Council agenda but not discussed in case the permit was appealed to the council.
On Aug. 8, the city sent organizers a letter denying the special event permit.
Speaking to the City Council this week, Teckenoff confirmed that air show organizers had known about the date conflict between the air show and the outriggers race in February.
Steve Montague, another representative of the air show, apologized to the council for causing them extra work. He said he hoped the council would explain the reason for denying the special event permit.
“Planning an air show or any event can be very complex,” he said. He said a member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was working on an emergency plan for the air show and they had two staffed dive teams, one from Baywatch and the other from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Radde’s staff report said the Avalon Fire Department had not seen an “incident action plan” and had not participated in any discussion of staffing needs for the event.
Montague also said at the council meeting that it was not easy to change the date of the event.
Teckenoff said pilots reduced their fees to “next to nothing” and organizers brought in another sponsor to cover the costs of setting up the event. In June, however, he said organizers decided to cancel the 2013 air show, but sponsors and pilots encouraged them to put it on.
Council Member Michael Ponce said organizers knew about the date conflict in February. He said they waited until August to submit a permit application.
“That’s my difficulty,” Ponce said.
“Yes, you are absolutely right,” Teckenoff said. He said organizers believed they could work through the date conflict.
Ponce said they promoted the air show without permission to put it on. Teckenoff said it was not that easy to organize an event over the water. Ponce said the air show was over the water and the outrigger race was on the water. He called that a big problem.
City Attorney Scott Campbell said the council should deny the appeal of the special event permit.Harbor Master Brian Bray said he couldn’t guarantee moorings would be available if the event were held the same weekend as the outrigger race.
Citing the municipal code, Campbell said part of the rationale for denying the permit would be the availability of city resources. He said the city code gives preference to older events and to the event that applied first.
Ponce moved to deny the permit.
The vote to deny was unanimous.
