The Director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events (MOSE), the Chief of the Houston Police Department, and the Chief of the Houston Fire Department recommend Council approval of an amendment to Chapter 25 of the code of ordinances to require permits for special event and outdoor music events on private property. In cooperation with the Department of Finance, the ordinance change will also create certain fees related to these permits.
Specifically, the requested amendment expands Chapter 25 to require a permit for any outdoor music event with an attendance of over 500 people held on private property, with certain exceptions, including property with an existing A-1 Certificate of Occupancy, property owned by religious organizations, and property owned by institutions of higher education. Additionally, it will require the event to provide security, staffing and traffic plans, and emergency contact information. And it will allow the City to recoup its expenses for emergency responses to unpermitted events and events operating out of compliance with their permits.
The ordinance also adds a permit application fee, which matches the application fee for special events as shown on the fee schedule, and an expedited processing fee of $200 for both special events and outdoor music events. The FIN fee analysis calculated an expedited processing fee of $764.20 for both outdoor music events and special events, which the industry will not support. Therefore, MOSE is proposing a lesser fee of $200 in order to support the promotion of excellent and safe events in the city of Houston. The expedited fee is not applied if the event promoter applies for the permit at least 30 days prior to the event date.
Outdoor music events in the City of Houston ("City") create large crowds, often without adequate crowd management, security, or safety plans, ultimately creating challenges for the City’s emergency responders. The Mayor’s Office for Special Events (“MOSE”), the Houston Police Department, and the Houston Fire Department advise that without adequate planning these events require the City to expend excessive resources responding to emergencies that result from over-crowding, under-staffing, and poor planning, including medical, fire, and police responses and place a financial burden and staffing strain on the City’s first responder resources.
This item was reviewed at a special called session of the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee on October 13, 2022. If this item is approved by Council, it will be effective 90 days after passage. This will allow MOSE time to provide outreach and messaging to inform the affected community of these changes.
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Susan Christian, Director
Mayor’s Office of Special Events
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Troy Finner
Chief of Police
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Sam Pena
Fire Chief
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