ACLU challenges Rehoboth’s special events ordinance

A special-events ordinance passed in Rehoboth has drawn the attention of the Delaware ACLU.

In a Feb. 12 letter, Ryan Tack-Hooper, Delaware ACLU legal director, challenges the constitutionality of the ordinance in at least two areas. First, he said, the notice requirement is too long and lacks exceptions. Second, he continued, the cost-shifting requirements are impermissibly broad.

Crafted by the city’s police department, the ordinance was passed by the commissioners in October. It requires applicants to submit a request at least eight weeks before the event and pay a nonrefundable base fee of $600. The fee allows the use of city facilities, including the Bandstand and Boardwalk, and provides an extra-duty police officer for three hours.

Tack-Hooper said notice requirements are permissible when they are short or tailored to the particular kinds of events being requested. He said any notice requirement must also have an exception for protests that are time-sensitive.

As for the fee, Tack-Hooper argues the city should more tightly constrain the discretionary aspects, forbid the consideration of the content of the proposed speech and forgo any attempt to shift costs linked to the content of speech.

Tack-Hooper urges the commissioners to act quickly, given the probability the ordinance will dissuade some from holding events.

“You may not intend to deny permits to groups who, for good reasons, do not meet the 8-week requirement, or who cannot afford the costs you seek to impose,” he writes. “But they may not apply in the first place given the unequivocal language of the ordinance.”

In January, after half-a-dozen citizens questioned its constitutionality, Rehoboth Mayor Paul Kuhns said there would be no changes coming to the special-events ordinance.

In an email Feb. 27, Kuhns said the issue is still under consideration.

In addition to the letter from the ACLU, the ordinance will be discussed twice in the coming days.

First, police Chief Keith Banks is scheduled to give a presentation on the ordinance Friday, March 1, at a Bandstand, Convention Center and Special Events Committee meeting.

Second, during a workshop Monday, March 4, commissioners are set to discuss an ordinance related to special events.

Commissioner Pat Coluzzi is the reason for the workshop discussion. She said the city has to protect First Amendment rights. She gave an example of an expressive activity as a protest against offshore drilling that doesn’t have the time to meet the 8-week requirement.

If a protest isn’t going to close streets or impede traffic, she said, then people should be able to assemble.