In order to reduce confusion and educate the public about the County’s Temporary Event Permit process, Supervisor Mary Piepho and multiple Contra Costa County Departments hosted an educational meeting in Discovery Bay this past Monday.
The meeting focused on the requirements for a Temporary Event Permit which included many departments such as the Department of Conservation and Development (925) 674-7200 and Department of Environmental Health (925) 692-2500. Once these two agencies are contacted, they alert local law enforcement and fire districts in order to properly staff for an event.
Supervisor Piepho shared her appreciation for local events, but explained that rules needed to be followed in order to protect the public.
“Recently, on June 29th, 2013, near fatalities occurred at the Paddle for Fame event in Discovery Bay. Emergency services of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, Contra Costa County Marine Patrol and the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District were called to the scene to provide rescue and emergency responses,” said Piepho. “Heroically, tragedy was averted. But these departments ability to manage their day-to-day responsibilities as well as an event of over a thousand people, with most attendees being on/in the water, had a significant impact.”
The supervisor further explained that since no Temporary Event Permit had been applied for by the event organizers, the Contra Costa County Departments in charge of event permitting and public safety were not properly informed of this event and had no opportunity to determine what permits, if any, were necessary or plan for the public’s safety.
In response to a concern from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s and other County Department about the lack of permits, her office called a meeting on July 13 to discuss the issue and work on improving the flow of information to event organizers.
Unfortunately, more events kept popping up in Discovery Bay, where the county had to become proactive and begin sending letters outlining permit requirements.
“The lack of permit filing caused numerous efforts on behalf of County Departments to monitor events to ensure land use and public safety conditions were met,” said Piepho. “Taking valuable staff time away from other projects.”
According to those in attendance, the event not only brought folks from Discovery Bay to the meeting, but folks from all over the county hoping to learn more about putting on events.
Here is some information on the permits and requirements which is pretty straight forward.
Temporary Event Permit
Permits are required to be submitted at least 45-days in advance of an event along with a $230 fee. Should your proposed event require a land use permit, a different application and fee would be required where that process could take 3-6 months for approval.
http://contra.napanet.net/depart/cd/current/PDFs/Application-TemporaryEvent.pdf
Temporary Food Event Permit
A Temporary Food Facility is a food facility that operates at a fixed location for the duration of approved community event. A permit to operate a temporary food facility is required before the event may open for business. It is the coordinator’s responsibility to also contact any other agencies, such as State Alcohol Beverage Control Board, Fire Department, City or County Planning Department, or Building Department to obtain permits and approval.
The required packet must be completed at least two-weeks before the event. The packet includes a check list of about 5-items.
Fees include:
- $39-non-refundable application fee
- $118 for each for-profit booth/table or out of county food truck
http://cchealth.org/eh/retail-food/pdf/temp_food_event_permit_app.pdf
Supervisor Corrects Brentwood Press Error
The Supervisor also explained how the meeting came to fruition and publicly cleared the air after the Brentwood Press Editor Ruth Roberts erroneously claimed Supervisor Piepho schedule was the cause of a cancelled meeting the week prior. We highlighted her error, which the Press has failed to corrected or apologize for after publishing several emails where Ms. Roberts did admit to not contacting the Supervisors office.
Dr. Underwood of County Environmental Health cancelled the meeting after Amanda Dove had changed the terms of the meeting.
“In a matter of hours it was clear that not all County departments were aware of this meeting nor invited to attend. Subsequently, we also learned that the list of community attendees had been expanded beyond the initial representation to Dr. Underwood that just the Discovery Bay Lions Club would attend,” said Piepho. “The meeting was then canceled by Dr. Marilyn Underwood, Director of the County’s Environmental Health Department, due to the terms and arrangements of the initial meeting having been altered by the meeting host and the lack of representation by all County departments.”
Piepho repeated that the original meeting that the Brentwood Press accused her schedule of cancelling was not correct.
“In the midst of this entire effort and process, at no time in the planning of the meeting, the structure of the meeting nor the cancellation of the meeting, was my schedule an element of whether the meeting took place or not,” said Piepho. “So, we are here to discuss the existing permitting process, the responsibility of event organizers, and make clear the need and value for these permits and the communication to take place.”
Editorial Comment:
While we should all applaud the county for being proactive in educating the public, those who called this meeting from within Discovery Bay and other media turning a blind eye to the problems Discovery Bay should be scolded. This meeting was self-serving, unnecessary, and a waste of county resources. Hosting events is nothing new to Discovery Bay and this meeting was treated as if it were a “get out of jail card” for some.
Even as of yesterday, a certain president of a Discovery Bay service organization is arguing with the county regarding the need for permit for their Tree of Lights Celebration to be held in December—more on this later today as it appears little was learned by some in attendance.
The truth is, I want to promote Discovery Bay and I want to promote their events, but they make it awfully hard to do that when they continually put the public at risk. More importantly, in reviewing these documents they are not complex, not lengthy and are very straight forward.
To put this in perspective, these are so called business leaders who file taxes, apply for business licenses, and keep inventory which is certainly more complex than an application for a permit.
The true benefit of this meeting is ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse.
By Michael Burkholder
[email protected]
17 comments
Anyone else annoyed that Discovery Bay cannot get their act together for these permits? How is it everywhere else this is not an issue? Antioch is having a parade on Monday, Brentwood is having a parade in a few weeks so it cannot be that complicated. Read the directions people!
You are comparing apples to oranges here Jim. Brentwood and Antioch parades are put on by their own chamber of commerce and in cities which are not under county control, therefore they do not need or require county permits.
OMG I am soooooo over reading about permits. I do have to admit that I do owe the author an apology for picking on Discovery Bay. Having now seen the requirements and rules its simple and straight forward so I am not exactly sure how there can be an discontent other than people maybe not wanting to pay the fees. Come on Discovery Bay, stop wasting the County’s time and fill out paper work and go have an enjoyable event.
Slow news day? Picking on Discovery Bay again I see and supporting piepho. big shocker burk
Voter 123456789 et al.,
If it is such a slow news day then why are you blogging here again? You haven’t been posting under your “Voter (insert any number)” name for a while now. What’s wrong, things slow at home?
This subject is obviously beyond your pay grade for you to be asserting that Burk is picking on Discovery Bay in support of Mary Piepho. How short sighted of you to insinuate coverage of a local issue is picking on a community. It’s a damn shame that the other press doesn’t comprehend the difference between reporting the news and trying to create it. Maybe “pet of the week” is more your style?
As far as Mary Piepho goes, I am glad she is doing her job. (Unlike other politicians that are busy wearing turkey suits, painting fences, showing up at photo ops, otherwise known as “campaigning”). That kind of politicking obviously appeals to a low IQ voter like you. Why am I not surprised?
See that horizontal button on both sides of the keyboard? The one that is marked Shift? You might want to learn its function before you make your next attempt at a post. Failure to capitalize names and sentences makes you look disrespectful and stupid all in one effort.
There is no respect for people such as piepho. Burk is a supporter of piepho. Notice I capitalized Burk and not piepho? That’s for a reason. Burk makes an honest attempt to provide truth while piepho makes up her own truth. I clearly disrespect crooked politicians.
FO Voter123etc,
I see you are using another unimaginative persona. How predictable. All while trying desperately to cover up for your own personal shortcomings. How ironic. Let’s just say your attempt at explaining your lack of ability to capitalize was an epic fail.
Once again you only succeeded in shooting yourself in the foot with another baseless and hateful post. As always there is no substance to your post. Pathetically you are limited to innuendo, frustration and desperation. Don’t you get tired of showing up with nothing to offer? Guess not. Thanks for showing us how a grown man with a 5 year old intellect thinks. You should be embarrassed.
This is just stupid. If you can’t read directions from a letter from the county then you shouldn’t be allowed to be in charge of an event.
I find it really offensive that the folks in Discovery Bay allow these people to be the head of events and waste our tax payer money by having county workers have to chase them down to follow the rules. I find it even more offensive that they think that they are above the rules and spend time making the county staff spin their wheels trying over and over to persuade them to do the right thing.
I think we should do a class action law suit against the Lions Club et all who have clearly now been educated if they don’t get a permit for their next event.
When is their next event and do they have permits yet?
There are a couple of events coming up and neither appear to be following the rules that have been spelled out in terms all should understand by now. There is a chili cookoff this weekend and the big parade of lights thing a month from now.
The real problem is liability. These social groups are attempting to privatize all the profits they make on these events while socializing the liabilities and potential losses to the town or the county. If someone attends one of these things and gets hurt, the deep pockets lawyers get involved. Not hypothetical. It’s already happened and the county barely escaped getting sued over an injury lawsuit at a previous parade. Had that gone through we would all be paying for it while the organizers quietly walked away with the money they made.
Proper event planning means getting your permits and protecting your business or organization with insurance. You can’t run these like big “frat parties” is how someone put it. That’s irresponsible. If something bad happens there has to be protection in place or we’ll all pay. The Lions, Chamber and some group called Dove Media are putting a lot of this stuff on. Even the Brentwood Press seems to be involved. They collect money for these things. There is a $50 fee just for the parade. That’s not trivial. There is no excuse for why they can’t fill out the forms and pay the permit fees. Most importantly they need to have the insurance in place to protect the people attending and the town or county from getting sued if anything goes wrong.
I’ve always wondered how they got away with blocking off the main artery for entry and exit to the town for that holiday parade thing. That strikes me as a huge liability to public safety. Maybe they just haven’t ever followed the rules out there for any of this stuff?
The Brentwood Press editor calls the permit process confusing. Maybe it is me but the permit application is pretty simple after seeing it with my own eyes. What kind of game are they running over there? They should be unbiased and report truths, not run on a little rumor mill column by an out of county editor.
John,
I noticed this also. The press online reported “Hosted by County Supervisor Mary Piepho, the event was designed to shed some light on the often times confusing county permitting process.
Read more: thepress.net – Talk About Town Nov 7
What confusing process?? Fill out a simple permit and submit it on time.
Apparently the so called news over there is written by the same people that don’t have the sense to fill out a simple permit. It’s no wonder they are confused.
Thank you for your Editorial Comment. The county only has the public’s interest at heart. It is true that none of the documents are complex and the county is willing to help complete the documents if necessary.
Amanda Dove going to comment?
The fact that the president of another Discovery Bay organization (Jim Mattison, only a handful of people present for ten seconds for the Tree lighting? seriously?) is blatantly lying to the county to avoid obtaining a permit is reprehensible. I wonder how the Lions organization would feel if they heard how these people are dragging the good name of the Lions through the mud. Are there any Lions from other communities that are bothered by these shenanigans?
The only education here is the grandstanding by the deceitful liars looking for kudos. Some people are just to dumb to notice. It’s kind of like the President of our sinking country. The good part is the dummies are starting to get educated with seeing the real picture. Government is bloated just like the words out of the politicians mouths.
And some people have no ability to self analyze.
The requirements for permits and reasonable liability coverage should be obvious to any rational adult. If you can’t fill out a single page form and your response to protecting citizens from irresponsible event planning is government is too bloated, you probably should move to the mountains and stay as far away from people as possible. You don’t have the skills for a living in civilized society.
People have been hurt and nearly killed during events sponsored by these people. If you can’t see the need for someone to step in here to prevent tragedy, there is no hope for you.
ECVsenior, real original brother! I’ll wager you stayed up all night coming up with that one. What a rube.
“The only education here is the grandstanding by the deceitful liars looking for kudos.” Couldn’t have said it better when describing someone like yourself. I think you have turned a corner. There is your “kudo”. Use it wisely!
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