The Ripon City Council will revisit the amendment to the “Licensing and Regulations of Special Events” ordinance at Tuesday’s monthly session.

Changes to the portion of the Ripon Municipal Code came about partly from the equipment auction held in an undeveloped area of the Mistlin Sports Park prior to the recent Almond Blossom Festival.

Cars were seen parked across the street during that time in the nearby orchards, causing unsafe crossing by pedestrians and dirt tracking along the road from the muddied fields.

Elected leaders saw that changes were needed. They’ve twice met on the redlined version of the City of Ripon’s special events, tabling the item at the April meeting while providing additional feedback to staff, and again on July 26 with an outline of the police decisions / discussions regarding special events.

At the 6 p.m. meeting in the Council Chambers, 259 N. Wilma Ave., Council, as a result of those two previous meetings, will include the following provisions:

·         The special event permits, with limited exceptions, would apply to those eligible Ripon non-profit organizations and / or Ripon-based businesses.

·         Only developed properties within the city limits will be eligible for the permits – all City of Ripon regional parks, in this case, would be considered developed properties.

·         Any special events held at the city park facilities will be required to comply with the City of Ripon’s Parks & Recreation event eligibility requirements, as approved by the City Council.

·         Added provisions for special events will need adequate plans, with conditions of approval being under standards and conditions for special event permits – this would allow the City to impose the appropriate conditions of approval (security deposits, for example, to ensure that adequate resources will be available to handle such events).

Council, in addition, will look to accept the donation from the Johnston-Crawford family on the donation of a Valley Oak tree to be planted at Stouffer Park.