Agenda 03-01-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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21 1 Tony Marimpietri said that he appreciates the kind words and there are a lot of shoulders 2 pushing the cart forward. He said that Alliance Health is highly engaged and providing great 3 value. 4 Chair Price asked for a tour of the facilities to be scheduled in the future for the 5 commissioners. 6 7 b. Regulation of Large Gatherings 8 The Board received information regarding a means of regulating large gatherings in Orange 9 County. 10 11 BACKGROUND: The Board of Commissioners asked for information on how the County may 12 regulate protests or large gatherings in Orange County. The attachments include a legal 13 overview of the regulation of protests and gatherings that was previously provided to the Board 14 together with examples of how other jurisdictions approach this issue and some relevant state 15 statutes. 16 17 John Roberts reviewed the background information for the item. He said the county can 18 impose time, place, and manner restrictions and limitations on large gatherings. He said that the 19 county can restrict the display of weapons. He said the county can require permits, notification 20 of upcoming gatherings, and can create buffer zones. He said that the Board generally can't 21 restrict gatherings on private property, except during a declaration of emergency or where the 22 gathering is commercial in nature and the property is zoned residential. He said that the state 23 has some regulations regarding the riot acts that address gatherings. He said that this prohibits 24 the incitement of lawlessness, rioting, injury to person or property and allows law enforcement to 25 break up a crowd. 26 John Roberts said he has included some examples of what other local jurisdictions have 27 done on this topic. For example, the City of Raleigh requires permits for protests but not for 28 "peaceful picketing," but "peaceful picketing" is not clearly defined. He said that the ordinance 29 gives police the authority to break up crowds that are blocking streets or sidewalks. 30 Commissioner McKee asked John Roberts to clarify imminent threats. He said that some 31 of the issues in Orange County have included people using loud noises and bullhorns. 32 John Roberts said that an immediate or imminent threat to people, speaks for itself. He 33 said that it is not just someone that may be offensive or insulting someone. He said that if they 34 are holding a baseball bat and swinging it at somebody, but they have not contacted anyone 35 yet, this is an imminent threat to somebody's health and could cause physical injury. He said 36 that if they are acting like they are going to start hitting cars or windows that is an immediate 37 threat or if they are actually hitting people with their hands or with an object or damaging. He 38 said that threatening language that does not result in imminent potential is not enough. He said 39 that you can't break something up just because someone's feelings are hurt, or they get mad. 40 Commissioner McKee asked what the dividing line between threat and imminent threat 41 is. He asked if they are in a meeting and someone is voicing their opinion in a loud and 42 boisterous manner, and he feels intimidated, does that constitute removal. 43 John Roberts said that will be fact specific and depend on the circumstances. He said 44 that if it is a public meeting like this one, there's statutory law protecting the disruption of a 45 meeting and they can be removed from public property. He said that if they are on the sidewalk 46 using a bullhorn, he would not say that the county would have the authority to remove someone. 47 Commissioner McKee asked about if someone is standing across the street on a 48 bullhorn on private property. 49 John Roberts said that if someone were standing on private property, the county would 50 not lawfully be able to remove by ordinance unless they were violating a land use restriction in