Bylaw updates aim to cut red tape for festivals, demonstrations

City staff are looking to update Ottawa's bylaws in the hopes of making it easier to have a little fun.

Staff are recommending several updates to the city's special events bylaw that they say will reduce red tape for organizers of festivals, block parties and demonstrations. The bylaw covers outdoor events of 500 participants or more.

Some of the bylaw amendments include: 

• Making it easier for licensed mobile vendors and food trucks to participate in special events.
• Allowing for noise exemption extensions when outdoor events are affected by weather delays or other circumstances outside organizers' control.
• Reducing regulations for bars, restaurants and venues already licensed by the province during special events
• Streamlining the approval of weekday road closures by delegating authority to designated staff and ward councillors.

"The proposed changes will make it easier to manage the growing demand for events while maintaining safety and the quality of life residents expect," said Jerrod Riley, a bylaw review specialist with the city's public policy development department, in a statement to CBC News.

According to the staff report, the changes would also reduce overtime and generate additional revenue for the city's event and tourism sector.

Forget 'the city that fun forgot'

The proposed changes are welcome news to event organizers in the city, some of whom have struggled to overcome Ottawa's reputation as "the city that fun forgot."

"Any effort to streamline any forms and regulations to abide by are helpful," said Mark Monahan, executive director of Ottawa Bluesfest.

The annual music festival, which draws crowds of up to 300,000 every summer, found itself at the mercy of the city's bylaws in 2019 when headliner Snoop Dogg's set was delayed by a thunderstorm. 

Festival organizers were later slapped with a fine because the performance went past 11 p.m., violating the city's noise bylaws.

"I think the bylaw now is going to allow for that, and and I'm encouraged by that," Monahan said.

It's not all good news: The new bylaw would also require annual safety training for event staff and volunteers that Monahan said "would be almost impossible" to fulfil.

"We have over 2,000 volunteers," he said. "They want to come into the festival and help, but their time and their ability to train or do these sorts of things is very limited."

Tara Shannon, executive director of the Ottawa Festival Network, said there's a "large appetite" for more freedom in organizing festivals, block parties and other outdoor events. She said the changes could inspire more of those kinds of events in the city. 

"I was very encouraged to see that the focus from the city was to help our event producers, festivals, make it a little bit easier for them to make incredible events for our city," she said. "The speed of the energy behind creative events and the speed of the energy of bylaw and bureaucracy sometimes are not a match."

New approach to demonstrations

Under the new rules, demonstrations held on city property would no longer require a special event permit. Instead, organizers would inform the city through a notification form. 

Ottawa police would continue to enforce the law at these events.

The city staff report acknowledged a growing demand for city services and policing in response to demonstrations, a change staff attribute to global events and growing economic uncertainty.

• Canada's police chiefs call for more help to deal with increasing number of protests
• After year of homicides and protests, chief says Ottawa wants more police

In coming up with their recommendations, staff consulted with the Ottawa Police Service (OPS), Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP and Global Affairs Canada. Those agencies asked for more clarity concerning the bylaws, and to be notified of the events earlier.

All the agencies the city consulted were generally supportive of the new framework, according to the report.

Coun. Marty Carr, vice-chair of the city's police services board, said the proposed changes are a "very positive step."

"I think they've done a really good job of … ensuring that balance between people's right to protest [and] the protection of the residents, whether they're protesting or whether they're attending events.," she said.

Councillors will discuss the proposed changes at a joint committee meeting on Thursday. If approved, the new rules would come into full effect next year, but some changes could be implemented sooner.