The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to establish a new ‘Signature Events’ category that will automatically waive city fees for 14 qualifying community festivals and events, replacing what officials described as a cumbersome bureaucratic process that burdened volunteer organizers.
The resolution, presented by Recreation and Arts Director Jenny Rogers, aims to simplify event permitting and provide predictable support for recurring nonprofit community events that have demonstrated long-standing value to the city's residents and economy.
"The goal of this resolution is to simplify a cumbersome event permit process, which creates unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles," Rogers told the council. "In an increasingly challenging economic environment, this action will provide greater certainty, ensure equitable and predictable city support and reduce expense to sustain these urban events."
Under the previous system, event organizers had to navigate a complex annual process of seeking fee waivers through the City Council's discretionary fund, often requiring extensive negotiations over which fees nonprofit producers would actually pay. The new streamlined approach eliminates that uncertainty for qualifying events.
The 14 events designated as signature events include popular community gatherings such as the Fourth of July Parade, Open Main Street festivals, Montana Avenue Art Walk, Pride on the Promenade, and the Festival of Chariots. All must meet specific criteria: taking place on city-owned sites, being free and open to the public, having occurred annually for at least three years, and supporting local businesses.
Community supporters praised the measure during public comment, with many emphasizing the burden the previous system placed on volunteer organizers. "An automatic fee waiver would provide community members more time to focus on the events themselves, in lieu of the time-consuming and often byzantine process of seeking waivers on an annual basis," wrote Ted Winterer, a volunteer for Open Main Street events and the Fourth of July Parade.
The resolution represents part of a broader citywide initiative to transform Santa Monica's events ecosystem as the region prepares for major international events. "With World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the Olympics coming to LA over the next 3 years, this envisioning makes great sense and poises our City for tremendous success," wrote Recreation and Parks Commissioner Ann Bowman in her public comment supporting the measure.
Rogers described the signature events program as one component of extensive ongoing improvements to make Santa Monica more event-friendly, including revising city policies, reimagining spaces like the new Sandbox beach play zone, allowing alcohol vending and drone shows at certain events, and implementing a new citywide permitting system called Clarity by 2026.
"We think of it kind of as an orchestra of elements across the city," Rogers said, describing coordination efforts with economic development, transportation, police and fire departments.
Council members expressed enthusiasm for the measure while seeking assurances about performance metrics and coordination with business improvement districts. Mayor Pro Tem Caroline Torosis requested key performance indicators to measure success, while Council Member Jesse Zwick praised efforts to reduce bureaucratic checkpoints that can create complexity for both applicants and city staff.
The Recreation and Parks Commission will conduct biannual reviews to consider adding new events to the signature category or removing events that no longer meet the criteria. Events that don't qualify for signature status can still seek city support through co-sponsorship or discretionary funding requests.
The measure accompanies a companion item modifying the Council's Discretionary Fund, moving $83,000 in ongoing commitments to the city's base operating budget to restore flexibility to the discretionary program.
Staff emphasized there is no immediate fiscal impact from the resolution, as it aligns with current council practices for event fee waivers, though they will monitor costs and return with budget recommendations if needed.
The unanimous approval reflected broad council support for streamlining processes that support community events viewed as essential to the city's economic recovery and cultural identity.