County launches rewrite of outdoor-events rules after years of enforcement gaps

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 16 directed county staff to return with revisions to the county’s outdoor-events rules after code enforcement officials said the current rules are difficult to and often impossible to enforce.

County code enforcement described dozens of properties holding repeated large outdoor events without conditional use permits (CUPs) and said the current exemptions (events under certain attendance thresholds on parcels of certain sizes) create perverse incentives: properties can host compensated events repeatedly while avoiding the safety and operational standards that CUP holders must meet.

Resource Management Agency staff and Code Compliance Director Doug Leeper told the board the rules adopted after litigation in the 2010s left a “hole” in the ordinance that allows commercial event advertising and multiple large gatherings without prior notice to the county. Leeper and other staff said investigators commonly learn about events only after they occur,so evidence for enforcement is difficult to collect; the county currently lacks weekend enforcement coverage, and fines for transient violations are too small to deter operators.

The changes the board asked staff to pursue include: raising administrative penalties for repeat…