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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1951 -( __~---;:-.5---~~~. .~ j ,,--~ "'t" -':-";"""7.:::=...__ ,. ~ '! ........~. r...., . '.-;:::-:--... ""~~~ ~, , . ORDINANCE NO. 1951 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA AMENDING DIVISION 6 OF CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE VI OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING A SECTION 6616.11 CONCERNING REGULATI FOR MOTION PICTURE FILMING - TIMING OF NOT TO NEIGHBORHOOD THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, HEREBY FIND, DETERMINE AND ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1: That a Section 6616. 11 i~ h Arcadia Municipal Code to read as fOllOWS}q 6616.11. ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIO~- The regulations for filming inj City of Arcadia on file with the Business License Office,Cb are authorized by this Division 6 of the Arcadia Mu cipal Code. The written Notice of ~l Activities required by Regulation 4, must occur at least ~~ (7) calendar days prior to actual filming, as a prerequi 't to the required Business License Permit for shall certify to the adoption of this cause a copy hereof to be published once in 15 days of the adoption hereof. and adopted this day of October, 1991. Mayor of the City of Arcadia City Clerk of the City of Arcadia ,. - -4 ~ . J' . . , . - , .. . . . . , . . . , > . . . September 3, 1991 FROM: George J. Watts, city Manager Becky Pike, Business License Officer TO: SUBJECT: Filming Advance filming Regulations notice to locations. residents in areas scheduled for BACKGROUND The Arcadia City Council adopted Resolution No. 5211 on February 5, 1985 concerning the motion picture and television film production industry. The Resolution supported the filming industry and offered cooperation with the industry but retained the right to basic regulatory powers such as protection from liability exposure through insurance protection, and imposition of safety requirements deemed necessary by the City. At this same time the Arcadia City Council reduced the Business License fee from $100. per day to $90. per location. FILMING STATISTICS During 1990 the City of Arcadia issued 35 filming permits. From January 1 to present the City has issued 36 permits. 23 issued for residential locations. 7 for commercial locations. 6 for the Arboretum. The number of days advance notice ranges from 14 to 1. DAYS PERMITS Over 7 2 7 1 6 5 5 2 4 4 3 7 2 9 1 6 . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . , . . . Page 2 At the present time we ask for two (2) days advance notice when the scheduling of safety personnel is necessary. If the filming production does not require city personnel applications will be accepted with as little as 24 hours advance notice. There are 93 cities in a 30 mile zone around the major filming industry area in Los Angeles. The 93 cities in this area are important to the filming industry because the filming companies are not required to pay travel expenses for any employees working within 30 miles. 42 of the cities in the 30 mile zone require 7 days or more advance notice. The cities of Carson, Lynwood and South El Monte require 30 days advance notice. 22 of these cities require over 7 days, 20 require 7 days notice. The remaining 57 cities have the following advance notice requirements. DAYS NUMBER OF CITIES 5 10 4 3 3 13 2 16 1 7 No set limi t 8 In the area around Arcadia are 13 cities with the following requirements. 6 cities require 7 days or more. CITY NUMBER OF DAYS Baldwin Park Bradbury Duarte El Monte Monrovia Pasadena Rosemead San Gabriel San Marino Sierra Madre South El Monte South Pasadena Temple City 7 3 14 5 2 3 1 none 10 7 30 (flexible) 5 10 , . . , . "'.. ., .. , Page 3 The Arcadia city council is considering the attached Ordinance which would regulate the number of days for advance notice in residential areas. The filming companies would be required to give written notice to households in residential areas where filming will take place. This advance notice would not effect the advance time factor for filming in commercial locations and at the L. A. County Arboretum. Companies filming in other than residential areas would still need at least two (2) days notice if safety personnel are assigned. If the filming is to be in a commercial area or the Arboretum, and no safety personnel are to be assigned, applications will be accepted 24 hours in advance. The information in this memo is presented to the City council to help in determining the number of days of advance notice for residential areas. The City Council will select the number of days to be added to the proposed ordinance if adopted. , ~ ~ . . , . " STATt Of CAUfOltNlA-tIJ$INf$S. I_ANS~TATI"" ANO HOUSING AGfNCY ~n WILSON, Go..",... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE c:AllfOItNIA mM COMMI$$ION m2 HOU1WOOO 8lVD.. SUIU 600 HOlL'/WOOD, CA 9002. (213) 7)6.2065 . Auaust 28. 1991 ~. BeckY Pike City of Arcadia 240 W. Huntinaton Drive Arcadia, CA 91007 DoIr Becky: First. I would like to thank the City of Arcadia for tho positive anitude it has had towards filmina in the city, As we discussed, cities tend to fall into one of three cateaories: those who are positive towards filmina. those who would prefer not to encouraje it, and those Ihat do not host enouah filmina to have any inclination at all. For instance. cities such as Bell or Lawndale really do not receive many requests (or filming. and as a result. usually treat filmina requests as thay would other special events. such as paflldes. Compare this with cities such as Manhattan Beach. Rollina Hills Estates and San Marino which silently discouraae filming in their communities by imposins requirements that the film. television and commercial production industry is hard pressed to meet (e,a. reQuirina S+ days advance notice for obtainins a perra it), If you look at tho notice requirement for those cities which encouraae rilmina. the average runs I to 3 days (Beverly Hills. 2 days. Burbank - 2 days, Culver City. I day, Glendale - 3 days, Long Beach - 3 days. Los Anaeles - 2 days, Monrovia - 2 days. Pasadena. 3 days. Temple City - 3 days. Santa Monica. 3 days, West Hollywood - 2 days). The Model Filmina Permit Process. which we wrote in 1989 in response to Assembly Bill 46g0. recommends 2 days notice (or a permit that does not include stunts or road closures, I stronaly encoufll.e the City of Arcadia to continue processing permiu and allowina filmina in all areas of the City within the current 3 day limit. Be assured. we are not asking cities to keep notice requirements at a minimum so that production companies may wait until the last minute to apply for a permit. Unfortunately. the majority of the industry works 00 a very tiaht time schedule, It is not uncommon for a production company shootins a commercial to be awarded the job one week and be expected 10 deliver a completed spot the next, The production COmpany will always live you as much advanced notice as possible. but much of the time it is out of their control. My office stresses to the industry that they should always initiate a permit as soon as they have decided upon a specific location, If you are finding this ROt to be the case, please let me know. If you should have any questions. please do not hesitate to contact me at 2 I 3/736-246S. I hope to hear from you soon, Michael C. Walbrecht A83OCiato Director MCW/ca . . . . . . TwoThumbs Up, CountY Film Office Gets Rave Reviews in Its First Year of Smoothing the Way for Location Shoots SAN GABRiEl VALLEY By JAMES RAINEX T~WES ST~ff WKITER.- , l!lilUng in her H9llywood Bouleyard of- ' flce, acroa the IIl'eet from Mann's'Q!nese . T1iea~; Chandra~~ iII,fur!Ous!1 '!'Grit- inlthepbone. ' ,,' '.... " ,,' , In \!1e.lpace of I~ aUn~, the 'dep~t1 .. dlreetar' of, the Las ADgetel County Film .. OffICe mu.t 8P~ iii Irate p\Uil parlO\! . owner who ha. forbidden a comp8liy 8hooUng ~ beer commerct8i from ~ In fro,nt of his, resta\l1'll1lt; dre8I down, an 'Gvenesloul' inullc-'vldeo, maker 'who planned what might have become a r!ot: ' , sized concert at a Sunaet ,Boulevard reco~, shop, and pefl!ll8de a f~ed Weot Ho1ly- wood city offtc1a1 that .uch produc\lQn8 are still a' good idea ' ',' , ' " , , Thill frenetic atmosphere inlandard fare ,In the film office; where Shah and five , colleagues have llpen~ the laIt year trying' to'smooth Ihe way forf\UJ1 companies on. , IoUUon in LasAnselel Collllty;' , ' , , If Shah andcoiDpany 1Ui:ceed. they ~' , prevent two uniquely Southem CaIIiomJa , ma1ad1es,"location burnout" and "produc, Uon, baIIouL" The former, atnlcte lIoma-, , ownerllnd bUllnesl'operatorl'80 ov_- posed to film crews that they will take no mOre. ,The latter refers, to production 'companies that, leave Las Angeles for ,Iocationa with ,Iesa regulation, lower coats and friendlier natives. " , Combatting location burnout ill a daily atruggle, with the film office'~ work judged anew by each neighborllood, or bualnesa d1atriet invaded by lights and cameru. ' An Altadena community griped laat year, . . for lnalallce, when trUcks for the televilion program "Beverly' HIlla 90210" callBed traffic to be diverted on Eaat' AI~na DrIve. The County FIlm Office aUll ner, voualy mo11Itors all producUon In Al~'!8' LOS ANGELES TIMES August 18, 1991 " aware Lhat some residents have had their fill of show biz, , But if first-year reviews from entertain; ment executives are 'any measure, ~t CounLy Film Office ill applying what could be an effective antidOte to production bailouL, , ' , ,[ndustry officials say tl)e private. non: profit film office is quicker' at isauini permits, solving problema and finding loea' lions than its p~~eaaor-the One-Stop Permit Office that waa operated at the same localion by the Loa Angelea Countr Internal Services DepartmenL ' . The LoB Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in April. 1990, to place isauance of permits in the hands of the Economic Develop- ment Corp, of Los Angeles County, which created the County Film Office to handle the job, The super- visors switched to a private organ- ' izalion to save money and to take a more aggresalve stand toward re- taining the region's signature in- dustry. The new office issues permits for unincorporated areas of the county and five cities-Calabaaaa, Dia- mond Bar. Malibu. Santa Clarita and West Hollywood. Film compa- nies must have a permit to film on any property not zoned aa a movie studio-including roads. highways, parks and beaches. The operation has been so suc- cessful that film executives and locaUon managers are lobbying for similar red-tape cutting.refonna in the city of Las Angeles. City Coun- cilman MIchael Woo plana to con- ' vene heiuinga within a few weeks , to solicit propoaals for putting more punch into the city's Film '" Video . Permit Office; The industry has complained that 'the city's film permit office-a division of the Department of Pub- lic Workll-does not have the po_ liticaljuice to get other city depart- me[lts to comply with its demand& [t also protealathatphone calls are sometimes placed on hold for 45 minutes or more and that permits, can langulah for daya 01>. film coordinators' desks.' .' Film, industry offtclala sald the county office is 'not as s<jUeamillh, about hard bargaining with bu- reaucrata, because the office ill an independent entity; And, the new regime, baa minimized delays in isaulngpermlta. "I f1ave been, hearill8 that ,they are helplnl a lot of people in the industry, There ill' a really good feeling about it,"said Jim Thomp- son, president of Real to Reel. a company thatacollts film locations.., The new County Film Office- Issued 2,449 permits ,in the fiscal year that ended June 30, a 5% ' incre~ over the prior year, COdy Cluff, director of the film office, said he hopes expansion will con- tinue' along with other reforms. AlreadJr,. , , . QflII:!l.hoUfll have beenextenlt- ~ ed tl!llJlgurB daily to the current 7: a.m.to6p.m. . . Fl1m 'office offlciala can be' reached 2. hours a dliy by beepl!i-:, to help'reeolve emergencies-for:, example, intervening when a coun- ty facl1lty baa IIlIl. been opened' for a film crew or eallliIg off sherifr., . deputies from isaulnl parking cita- tiona when Ipecia1 production ar- ' rangementl have been made. , . ~ , .'1'0 save money for the film- makers, guidelines have been re- drawn so that fire safety adVIsers are not assigned to locations where they are not needed. The advisers can now be found on fewer than 40% of locations, compared to more than 80% before, . Some counly beaches that had been closed to filming after 10 p,m, are now open at all hours. , . Permit! are issued by comput- er. greally speeding the procell8. The film office also lobbIes on' behalf of lhe film industry-for instance protesting an ordmance approved last monlh by, the Malibu City Council that levIes, a $400 daily filming fee and requtreS fIve days' written notice of production plans, ' Malibu Cily Manager Ray Tayl~r ,said thai, afler the film office s protest!. the ordinance WIll be reviewed to assure It compiles WIth a stat" law thai allows cities to collect only as much in film permit fees as they spend in processing the pennits. 7 ' o But ,lhe moot important change in the Counly Film Office has been Lhe addition of an ombudsman' program. which i! designed tc;> bust the bureaucracies that stand m the way of filming, said Kathleen Milnes, directorot governmental , affairs for the AlUance of Motion Plclure and Televl!lon Producers. Shah who acta as chief ombudl- man, said she considers It a person- a1challenge to keep film permit deniala to a minimum.' When, for instance. the county Department of Beaches and Har- bors denied Finger Roll Inc. per- mission earlier this year to en!Ct a basketball court on a parking lot at busy Venice Beach. Shah Wall back , on the phone. " , Working with the offices of Loa Angeles City Councilwoman R,uth Galailter and County SupefV\80r Deane Dana, Shah helped find alternalive parking spaces for beach-goers, so that the basketball court could remain intact-pre- serving a key set for the comlnJr feature film. "White Men Can t Jump." '_ Producers of a' coming Btuce, Willi! film were denied a pennit , thia year to blowup a car on the streets of West Hollywood. But the. film office helpetl clear the w.ay with city offlclala and several utili- ties and the cameras rolled. ' . . "The county had historically been turning away filming and the revenue associated Wilh it," Shah said. "My jOb i! film retention; But if lhey go too far. we won't endure it because we are concerned about location burnout, I don'l just back lhe film companies." o The rules of the game are sped_, fied on each camera crew's filmin8 permit, The pizza parlor owner had pro- ' tested, for instance, because "No , Parking" signs had been posledon,- the few spaces in front of his Santa Monica Boulevard restaurant: Such: .. postinga are only permitted with: ' the permission of adjacent property owners. Shah feared the angry business. man mighl hold out for ail exorbt-: lanl payment to give up the parking space-''They are all a- tortlonists in West Hollywood," :c .he said-8Q she resolved lhl!"mat" , ' . ter by simply restricting the,fUm,: crew to the other end of the block. ' ' The music video maker had a.. .tickler problem. He had taken out._, a newspaper advertlaement to pllJ>o::: mote filming of the chart-toppInf;, musical group EMF at a ,Sunset:. Strip record store, despite a strtct:.: prohibition in his pennit against~ advertising; , West Hollywood offlclala-re-. calling the traffic gridlock' that rocker David Lee Roth hrought to ' the, same location,-decUned:, tQ , 'have' a repiay,w1l1r EMF.: 'l'bey' can,celed the C!l,Qc:m'pl'Qllp~llJl' "You' broke a rule that, ,Was in', writing," Shah told the vide<tmalt~, ~, "so you:,," at their mere,...... , . ': The weary pubUc is increasingly standing up to the Industry, often . deJ1l8ll~. paymenla of. ~ ,~' $1.500 when a camera crew mlelloi<' nJPts their nonnal routine. Mer~~: chanla, in particular. say thla Ia nalf ; "extortion" but an attempt.to re- coup money they lose when~' ' totheirbusln_isimpedecL ; , " , Despite attempts at~, tion, some neighborhoods have 1106" been appeased., ",; .: When Altadena, residents pro..., tested the "Beverly Hilla 9021.,.. ':' , ftlmlng Ia5l year. for example. they:." complained that fIln:1maltent creat" . ed a traffic hazard With large. trucks they regularly parked In the ' communily, An official in the film office apologized at the time to one man in a wheelchair who Wall prevented from crossing a .treet during, film- ing, But lhe film office said other complaint! from neighbors .eemed overblown, De.pite it! aggressive advocacy for the film industry. Cluff insi.t! that his office act! as an impartial intermediary between film compa- nies, resident! and business people, "We must develop a recognilion in the industry that people must behave themselves and not make lhemselves unpleasant to the com- munily." Cluff said. "And we must work wilh the communily 50 lhey know the value of lhe.e produc- lions in their communi lie.." Entertainmenl executives .aid lhe city of Lo. Angeles needs a more aggressive film retention poL- icy of ita own, They point to .tati.tic. lhat estimate localion filming generales nearly $5 billion annually for the economy m the greater Loa Angeles area. Several members of the enler- tainment industry attribute slow service in the cily film office to a shortage of employees and modem equipment. Others are less gener- OUS, saying the operation is bur- dened with moribund bureaucrats who have lM'lnterest In their lobo. . Charlell M; Weisenberg, director of Loa' ~Ies' Motion Plclure and Television ,Division. conceded that his officeoccaaionally is .Iow to answerpho'nes and issue pennits. But he noted that the city process- es roughly twice as many permits as the county does. And while county permits often apply 10 , beaches and other wide open spilces. Loa Angeles is more likely to confront the dilemmaa of filming on crowded city streets. A recenUy lnatalIed computer .ystem should produce permils more qulckly, said Loa Angeles ,ftlm pennit Officer DIrk Bevlng. And two other upgrades are planned-Installing new tele,- phone. and hiring ,another pemut coordinator to bring the office .taff lQ a total of 10. , -The city's anemic budget de'- mands that those' last improve- menU be tied to an increase in the basic film permit fee from $130 to $160, The fee increase Wll8 ap- proved Wednesday by (he city's Board of Public Works, Councilman Woo says the FIlm & Video Permit Office needs more than new equipment and person, nel. He said the' office "is now con- sidered co-equal with other city departmenU. And that can be a problem; , , "More is needed in terms of a high visibility position," Woo said. - "that clearly hu enough political clout to be able to move Lhe . bureaucracy to get quick resulU." memo'tanJum Date: Seotember 12. 1991 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FROM: MICHAEL H. MILLER, CITY ATTORNEY m Vlll! SUBJECT: ORDINANCE NO. 1951 - MOTION PICTURE FILMING - TIMING OF NOTICE TO NEIGHBORHOOD The attached ordinance and materials relate to a possible code amendment regarding neighborhood notice of film activities. Please note that the ordinance is blank as to the "number of days" for the notice. If Council decides to go forward with the amendment, per direction of the Council, the days can be inserted in the statute at the time of introduction. Attachments c: City Manager