Council staff present proposal to change special-event permit deadlines and raise some fees; monthly and film permits among items discussed

City staff and council aides detailed a proposed ordinance package to revise Tulsa’s special-event permit procedures, deadlines and certain fees, citing large numbers of late submissions and strains on police and fire scheduling.

Marissa Gomez of council staff said a working group including police, the special events office, permit center, fire, asset management and public works developed the recommendations to improve interdepartmental coordination and ensure cost recovery for departments that provide services at events. She said 286 event applications were received in 2024, 244 of them major events, and that 87% of applications were submitted late to the permit center. Staff also reported that 272 of 286 permits were issued 10 days or fewer before the event date.

Danette Willis, Development Services Permit Center Manager, walked through proposed deadlines and late fees: major public-right-of-way events would keep the same base permit fee but move the application deadline from 90 to 60 days (with a $200 fee for submissions under 60 days and discretionary approval for submissions under 30 days); minor private-property permits would move from 45 to 40 days with a $100 fee for late filings; monthly recurring events would face new submission windows and a $100 fee if submitted in less than 30 days. Willis said staff would report on the rules’ effect on on-time submissions after implementation.

Skipper Baines, special-events coordinator with Development Services, described proposed changes for film permits and oversize loads. Film-permit deadlines would drop from 15 to 10 days and rates for private-property filming would increase from $0.80 to $1.50 (note: transcript shows dollars and cents in cents-style notation for per-hour or per-unit rates); public-rights-of-way filming would move from $2.40 to $4.50 in staff proposals. Applications submitted fewer than 10 days before filming would pay an extra $100 and staff would administer late approvals for submissions under five days.

Staff proposed aligning public-works, traffic operations and authorized city personnel cost recovery rates with recently raised police and fire fee rates, moving from $30 to $45 per hour phased over three years. The working group also proposed communication plans to publish implementation dates, send mass emails to prior event applicants and post the changes on city websites; staff suggested an implementation target of Jan. 1 (staff said January 2026 in discussion).

Council members asked about administrative approval for film permits and whether last-minute timeline changes for productions would allow adequate council review; staff said film permits are administratively approved and do not routinely come before council. Members asked whether the city’s fee package aligns with peer cities; staff said Tulsa’s proposal is more in line with cities such as San Diego and Wichita and noted Oklahoma City is still developing film permit fees.

Staff indicated a post-implementation review in the first quarter of 2027 to evaluate whether late-fee revenue reduced last-minute submissions. The transcript records discussion and questions from council members; it does not record a committee roll-call vote or final disposition of the ordinance package in the committee meeting transcript provided for this article.