HomeMy WebLinkAbout1951
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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.'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 '
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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. '
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"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