title
CC - ACTION ITEM: Consideration of Whether to Approve (1) Award of a $15,000 Off-Cycle Special Events Grant to Walk n’ Rollers and Designation of the Proposed Earth Day Elenda Open Street Event as a City-Sponsored Event; (2) A Street Closure along Elenda Street between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive on Tuesday, April 22, 2025; (3) Authorization to the City Manager to Approve Applicable City Permits and Licenses Required to Implement the Street Closure; and (4) FOUR-FIFTHS VOTE REQUIREMENT: Approval of a Related Budget Amendment Appropriating $14,075 from the General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance.
body
Meeting Date: February 10, 2025
Contact Person/Dept: Edgar Varela / Office of Economic and Cultural Development
Phone Number: (310) 253-5752
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Attachments: Yes [] No [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (02/04/2025); Culver City Unified School District (01/31/2025), Residents along Elenda Avenue between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive and between Huron and Coombs Avenues (02/04/2025).
Department Approval: Jesse Mays, Assistant City Manager (01/29/2025)
______________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council consider whether to (1) award Walk n’ Rollers a $15,000 Off-Cycle Special Events Grant and Designate the Earth Day Elenda Open Street Event as a City-Sponsored Event; (2) approve a street closure along Elenda Street between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive and between Huron and Coombs Avenues on Tuesday, April 22, 2025; (3) authorize the City Manager to approve applicable City permits and licenses required to implement the street closure; and (4) approve a related budget amendment appropriating $14,075 from the General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance to Account No. 10116100.517560 (Special Events Grants) (four-fifths vote required.)
DISCUSSION
Walk n’ Rollers was founded to encourage children to be more active, primarily by walking and biking to school. For the past 12 years, Walk n’ Rollers has overseen the Culver City Safe Routes to school program to encourage parents to rethink their commutes to school by walking, biking, carpooling or using transit. They have produced several classes, workshops and local rides and host the annual Walk n’ Roll Festival open to the entire community.
On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, Walk n’ Rollers would like to host their 1st Annual, Earth Day Open Street Event to take place along Elenda Street between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive and between Huron and Coombs Avenues. The route would include Farragut Elementary School, Culver City Middle School and Culver High School from 7 AM - 9 AM. The event would feature family friendly activities including promoting Earth Day activities, bike skills and club booths.
Approval of the proposed sponsorship and related street closure would require an off-cycle special event grant, and approval by the City Council. The proposed street closure would be from 6 AM to 10 AM on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
In addition to walking and biking programs, the event is slated for Earth Day 2025 and aims to include environmental conscious activities. Walk N' Rollers is in discussion with the Public Works Department Environmental Programs and Operations Division to discuss how the City could participate or collaborate on activations during the event.
Culver City’s EnviroFest is tentatively slated for Saturday May 4, 2025, the first Saturday in May. This year will be the Culver City's 3rd EnviroFest, the event includes giveaways of trees and compost, an e-waste/shredding event, and will invite regional environmental partners to provide a table as well as have staff present to discuss City environmental efforts.
City Sponsorship
To be categorized as a “sponsored” event by the City, an event must meet the criteria set forth in the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Section 17.330.040.B.7.b.ii and City Council Policy No. 2502 (Special Event Grant Program), confirming that the City is (a) participating in an official capacity in the planning, preparation or promotion of the event or activity; and (b) contributing 25% of the total estimated costs of the civic event or activity or at least $1,000, whichever is less. This contribution may take the form of funds, labor, staff time, materials, a coverage of fees, or any combination thereof.
The CCMC and Policy require conditions (a) and (b) to be satisfied. Additionally, City Council Policy requires that for an event to be considered a City-sponsored event, the City Council is required to determine, by specific action, that the above criteria be met. If the City Council awards a minimum of $1,000 in special event grant funds, including in in-kind staff time, the event will satisfy the criteria for City sponsorship. As a requirement for event sponsorship, the organizers for the events must identify the City of Culver City as a sponsor of the event in all promotional materials.
Off-Cycle Event Support
One of the primary goals of the Special Event Grant Program (“Program”) is to consolidate requests, thereby limiting the number of off-cycle event support requests. However, the Program, City Council Policy No. 2502, provides for City Council consideration of off-cycle Special Event Grant Program/ City-Sponsorship requests.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Walk n’ Rollers is requesting a $15,000 Off-Cycle Special Events grant for a combination of in-kind staff time, permit fees, multi-departmental services. Below are what would be the anticipated costs:
The Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 does not include sufficient funding for this request. Approximately, $925 is currently available in contingency funds for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2024-2025. A budget amendment to appropriate additional funding would need to be approved by City Council which requires a four-fifths vote.
If the Council wishes to grant Walk n’ Rollers City sponsorship in the amount of $15,000, the contingency would be exhausted and an additional $14,075 would need to be appropriated from the Unassigned General Fund Balance to Account No. 10116100.517560 (Special Events Grants) which can be found in the Non-Departmental section of the budget book on page 226. The Unassigned General Fund Balance is currently estimated to be $2.7 million.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. (A) Award a $15,000 off-cycle Special Events Grant and designate the Earth Day Elenda Open Street Event as a City-Sponsored Event;
or
(B) Not Award a $15,000 off-cycle Special Events Grant nor designate the Earth Day Elenda Open Street Event as a City-Sponsored Event;
If the City Council passes Motion 1(A), then:
2. Approve a request from the Walk n’ Rollers to close Elenda Street, between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive and between Huron and Coombs Avenues to accommodate their Earth Day Open Street event on April 22, 2025;
3. Approve a budget amendment appropriating $14,075 from the General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance to Account No. 10116100.517560 (Special Events Grants) (four-fifths vote required);
4. Authorize the City Manager to approve applicable City permits and licenses required to implement the street closure;
5. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and,
6. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.