Committee continues ad-hoc fee-study work; members discuss fees for camping, parking and liability concerns

Committee member S4 reported receiving a detailed fee spreadsheet from Arcadia and said other cities' fees were harder to access. Members discussed several revenue options: formalizing camping as a rentable activity tied to a special-event permit, charging for parking overflow during large events, creating wedding or quinceañera packages and considering a percentage-of-ticket or alcohol-sales surcharge for major events.

A community commenter (S7) said the special-event permit fee is about $120.50 and cautioned that once a municipality charges for recreational use it may lose certain liability protections under what she called the "California recreational use statute," recommending the committee consult risk management and consider waivers. Staff said they are working with risk-management providers and other municipalities to create a comprehensive packet with fee schedules and relevant ordinances.

Members asked staff to obtain additional benchmarking from nearby towns (Eureka, Fortuna) and to incorporate community impact, facility wear-and-tear and stakeholder feedback when proposing revised fees. The ad-hoc group will return a draft fee proposal to the committee and then to council for potential adoption.