HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Provided Information - 8/12/2025CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY
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COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
CITY COUNCIL of SALT LAKE CITY
www.slc.gov/council/
TO:City Council Members
FROM: Michael Sanders
Budget & Policy Analyst
DATE:July 08, 2025
RE:ORDINANCE AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 11.14 PARTIES, GATHERINGS, OR EVENTS
ISSUE AT-A-GLANCE
The Administration is proposing an ordinance change which would introduce a civil enforcement remedy for the
City to respond to unruly parties, gatherings, or events. These are defined as events involving three or more
people near a residence that result in observed law violations, public disturbances, or blocked public ways.
The proposal would authorize administrative citations with a $1,000 civil fine issued to the property owner after
a prior warning.
The proposed amendments also authorize the use of non-sworn Police Department personnel to respond to such
incidents. This will help reduce strain on sworn police officer resources while improving public safety and
neighborhood quality of life.
The Council is being asked to amend the City Code by ordinance to achieve the above purposes. No public
hearing is required.
Goal of the briefing: Prepare to consider the ordinance at the August 12, 2025, Formal Meeting.
NEW INFORMATION
The Police Department sent over the below procedure regarding unruly party reporting and response.
1. If an individual wishes to report an unruly party, they should typically contact the non-emergency line.
a) If there is a fight in progress at a party, they should contact the emergency line.
2. The standard response will be on duty available patrol officers.
a) If patrol officers are not available PCRT will be asked to respond to document the party.
3. When a caller calls, they can expect to be asked standard loud party questions:
a) Location, number of involved people, are minors are on scene, etc.
b) As stated above, on duty patrol will respond if available.
c) When an officer responds a caller should expect to be contacted by the responding officer and
updated on the police response
POLICY QUESTIONS
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1. The proposal permits non-sworn Police Department personnel to respond to, and identify/document
unruly parties, gatherings, and events. The Council may wish to ask the Administration if other relevant
personnel should be considered to also be able to respond, such as those from Code Enforcement.
2. The Council may wish to ask if the Administration how this ordinance will affect the Police Department’s
operational, staffing, and overtime needs.
3. The Council may wish to ask the Administration if there are any potential changes to the Good Landlord
Program that could incentivize adherence to the ordinance.
4. The Council may wish to consider asking the Administration to engage stakeholders such as the Rental
Housing Association of Utah or other key stakeholders.
ADDITIONAL & BACKGROUND INFORMATION
By issuing fines directly to property owners, the proposal will alleviate some of the demands on resources
needed to respond to unruly parties, gatherings, and events. This approach is expected to discourage such
violations on private property and encourage property owners rather than the City to address tenant behavior
that has a negative impact on neighborhoods.
Definition of an Unruly Party, Gathering, or Event
The proposed ordinance defines an unruly party, gathering, or event as:
Three (3) or more people assembled on or within 600 feet of any residential property where a member of the
Police Department observes
a) one or more violations of law;
b) the party, gathering, or event disturbing the public peace, health, safety or welfare of the surrounding
community due to the magnitude of the crowd, noise, illegal activity, fighting, littering, public urination
or defecation or other disturbance; or
c) the party, gathering or event causing the obstruction of public ways by crowds or vehicles.
Consolidated Fee Schedule
Previously, there were fees in the Consolidated Fee Schedule (CFS) charged to “Any person hosting a party,
gathering, or event” to which a police officer responds. It was found that it is difficult to levy these fees on a host
as during such unruly parities, there are often hundreds of participants none of which identify as a host. These
fees were eliminated as part of the FY2026 Budget CFS updates approved by the Council on June 10, 2025. This
proposal will replace the eliminated CFS fee with a $1,000 civil fine issued to the owner of the property.
Civil Fines
This approach is expected to discourage unruly party violations on private property and encourage property
owners to manage tenant behavior in the case of rental properties. The proposal establishes a 365-day timeframe
for issuing fines following a warning for a first violation. Once a warning is issued, if another unruly party occurs
within the 365-day period, the property owner will face a $1,000 civil fine for each violation.
For example, if a property located at 123 Sanders Street was the site of an unruly party on June 1, 2025, the City
would issue a formal warning to the property owner. If a second unruly party occurs at the same property on or
before May 31, 2026, the City would issue a $1,000 civil fine to the property owner. Each additional violation
within that 365-day window would result in another $1,000 fine.
Any member of the police department
The proposed ordinance authorizes any member of the Police Department to observe and determine whether an
unruly party is occurring. This provision would allow non-sworn personnel, such as Police Community
Responders, to respond by identifying and documenting violations. By enabling Police Community Responders
to collect evidence and initiate the enforcement process, the ordinance helps conserve the time and resources of
sworn officers, allowing them to focus on higher-priority or emergency calls.
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Other types of crimes will still be enforced upon
The proposed ordinance does not exempt party hosts or attendees of their responsibility to comply with other
applicable laws. It explicitly states that “nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the arrest or
citation of individual violators of any other criminal or civil regulations, ordinances, or laws.” This means that
while the ordinance targets property owners for hosting or allowing unruly parties, individuals present at such
events can still be held accountable for separate violations.
For example, partygoers may be cited for infractions related to noise control, illegal parking, underage drinking,
or other disturbances covered under existing sections of the City Code. This provision ensures that enforcement
efforts remain comprehensive and do not limit the ability of officers to address broader public safety and
quality-of-life concerns that often accompany large, disorderly gatherings.
In the case that an unruly party occurs at a rental property owned by an LLC without a clear, public-facing
individual, the Administration has stated that civil citations will be issued to the property owner(s) of record. In
the case of an LLC, the citation would be directed to the LLC itself. If the property is managed by a third-party
management company, enforcement would still be directed to the owner(s) of record rather than the
management company.
There are possibilities that this ordinance could unintentionally lead landlords to raise rents or preemptively
evict tenants they perceive as high-risk, particularly younger tenants, students, or individuals from historically
marginalized communities. The Administration has noted that there is no current evidence to suggest that the
ordinance would broadly incentivize such actions. The ordinance is intentionally structured to issue a warning
for the first violation, to provide property owners an opportunity to address issues before any fines are imposed.
The decision to set the fine at $1,000 was driven by the need to establish a meaningful and effective deterrent.
Historically, some property owners—including fraternities and other frequent party hosts—have treated lower
fines as a manageable cost of doing business, in some cases budgeting for them in advance as part of event
planning. Setting the fine at the maximum allowable amount is intended to disrupt that dynamic by increasing
the financial consequence of repeated police responses. The goal is to shift behavior by encouraging greater
accountability from property owners and reducing the frequency of large, disruptive gatherings that require
public safety resources.
Generally, State Code limits municipalities from levying civil fines exceeding the maximum Class B
misdemeanor fine which current maximum is $1,000.
This ordinance will have a companion ordinance which will amend Chapters 2.75 and 2.59 (among others), to
which create the necessary administrative appeal process for all types of civil citations excluding zoning/building
code violations issued by the City. Additionally, a forthcoming nuisance ordinance will introduce nuisance
enforcement proceedings for repeated violations which may lead to enhanced penalties for property owners.
The Administration has provided the following table regarding the past three years of loud party citations:
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Council Staff has summarized key points from the table below:
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