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Johns Creek to pilot World Cup watch parties and phased Boardwalk activation; staff to return with rental policy and fee schedule
Summary
Council supported promoting local business watch parties and a city‑led movie+watch‑party pilot for the FIFA World Cup, and generally favored a phased approach to Boardwalk rentals (start with city programming, limit early rentals) with staff returning with policies, fees and capacity guidance.
Staff presented three options for World Cup programming in Johns Creek: (1) promote and aggregate local business watch parties via the Chamber or CVB; (2) add a soccer‑themed movie night (example: June 12) and piggyback the game as a city event; and (3) stage dedicated public screenings for later tournament rounds (semifinals and finals).
Council members broadly supported options 1 and 2 as low‑cost ways to engage residents and businesses; several members recommended a two‑event pilot (an early movie+watch night and a finals screening). Staff said the Chamber had floated the idea and that any promotional partnership would need to avoid the city appearing to pick winners; the CVB could also manage a landing page or promotional site listing local watch parties.
On Boardwalk activation, staff asked whether the city should limit use to city‑run special events, allow private/nonprofit rentals of park sections, or encourage recurring third‑party programming. Council favored a phased approach (start with city programming and limited rentals), asked staff to return with a recommended fee schedule and policies, and recommended a short “cooling‑off” period after opening so the public could experience the park before frequent rentals begin. Staff estimated a comfortable capacity of about 4,000 for the North Pond area for large events, but said exact capacity depends on setup and use of adjacent city‑owned property.
Council asked staff to coordinate with the Chamber, local businesses and the CVB on World Cup promotion, to prepare rental policies and fees, and to collect early usage data to inform future changes. Staff will return with proposed policies, a fee schedule and recommended effective dates for any rental program.
