CONNEAUT TOWNSHIP – A new law has gone into effect in Conneaut Township to regulate large public entertainment gatherings of more than 200 people that last two hours or more.
At a special meeting announced on April 25, members of the Conneaut Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the new ordinance on a 3-0 vote and it took effect Tuesday. Previously, the municipality had no public entertainment regulations in place.
The ordinance came about due to a multi-week music festival in the county, planned for each of the four weekends in July.
In mid-February, Conneaut Township resident David Simons began promoting the Lakeland Area Music Festival on Facebook. The festival would take place on the farm where he lives, on Airport Road, north of Linesville.
Posts by Simons about the “Lakeland Area Music Festival – Summer of Music, Love and Unity – Every weekend in July” praised hundreds of bands performing, including a March 19 post to “make a music festival completely new, with more than 800 people. Acts and sets a new world record in the Guinness Book of World Records.”
In a March 30 post, Simons proposed a $50 ticket cost for bands to print and sell their own tickets. However, Lakeland Area Music Festival tickets also remain available online at TicketTailor.com.
At the April 25 special meeting, Simons told supervisors that he had not sold any festival tickets to that date.
The ordinance requires authorization for the event.
It also requires detailed plans of where entertainment will take place on the property, all existing and to-be-built structures and obtaining necessary permits, proposed parking areas and service roads, plans for water and sewer services and medical service facilities. It also requires plans for food and beverage storage, preparation and serving facilities, as well as camping facilities.
Additionally, there must be security plans for traffic control and general security so that activities are not directed to other properties.
The ordinance also requires insurance liability certificates of at least $2 million for personal injury and $500,000 for property damage.
The penalty for violating the ordinance is a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation.
