Permit for Conducting Bootcamps in public areas?

[tovlakas]

Have a friend whose been running bootcamps regularly in a local park for months, and was approached by a police officer this morning who told him he cannot continue with the bootcamps unless he obtains a permit to conduct business in the park. Apparently these permits can be incredibly pricey ($100/hr??!?)... luckily I have not encountered this in my own business yet but I had no idea you needed one to conduct business in the park, although in retrospect it seems obvious.

For those of you who do bootcamps and training in public areas, do you have permits? Where did you go to get them? How much did they cost? Is there some loophole to avoid needing one?

[jules_d1]

the rules and regulations will vary depending on the council that controls them. go to the city council and ask. in my instance i didnt need to pay anything, just notify them of my use (which in turn gives me the rights to kick anyone else off if we are there at the same time).

All they asked in return was that I have my own public liability insureance

[SerpentHearted]

i believe it's $160 a week in my area. Screw that. I'm just running them in the carpark of my block of apartments now.

[KyleAaron]

As Jules said, it depends where you are. It also depends on numbers. In some places it's free so long as you have 5 or fewer people involved. And it's always on your head in insurance terms.

[tovlakas]

Hmm, I appreciate your guys' advice, but you're all in Australia... would be interesting to see if things are different in the US. Anyone from the US ran into this yet?

[dasixthsun]

I run one in the local park and i called them up to see if i needed a permit. They said no permit is needed i just couldn't charge. So i just made people prepay that way no money was being exchanged at the park.

[regl8r]

I've been doing a speed and agility camp in a forest preserve with a hill and no problems thus far. Stay away from local pigs with nothing better to do... bribe him with a free session most cops could use it.

[extremenergy3]

^^^ lulz.

Or you can just rent out a bbq area in that park for free! And if the police officer comes and asks you what you're doing, tell him you're having fun summer bbq games

[tovlakas]

^^^ lulz.

Or you can just rent out a bbq area in that park for free! And if the police officer comes and asks you what you're doing, tell him you're having fun summer bbq games

maybe oc is different but around here you still have to pay to rent out a public space, even for a personal event.

[extremenergy3]

maybe oc is different but around here you still have to pay to rent out a public space, even for a personal event.

Free in SF usually. Some places are first come, first served. Some you have to rent for a small fee. Some you can rent for free. Different indeeeeed.

[broad.stance]

Have a friend whose been running bootcamps regularly in a local park for months, and was approached by a police officer this morning who told him he cannot continue with the bootcamps unless he obtains a permit to conduct business in the park. Apparently these permits can be incredibly pricey ($100/hr??!?)... luckily I have not encountered this in my own business yet but I had no idea you needed one to conduct business in the park, although in retrospect it seems obvious.

For those of you who do bootcamps and training in public areas, do you have permits? Where did you go to get them? How much did they cost? Is there some loophole to avoid needing one?

The cop may be correct, or may have misinterpreted the nature of the bootcamp. Many parks prohibit solicitors and limit vendors and those selling services while on the premises. But everyone is right, even the blokes from Australia, in what is permissible will vary by state and whether the park is run by the local government or the National Park Service.

Bootcamps and the like fall under the category of an organized event and whether or not a permit is needed often depends on the number of participants. In Washington D.C. (if I remember correctly) if you hold a bootcamp in Rock Creek Park, a permit costing around $5 is required if there will be more than 25 people at an organized event. Though if 30 kids have a spontaneous game of kickball in the same field a permit isn't necessary. Then, if you move 10 miles east to a more residential area the participation numbers may drop and the fees increase.

The obvious loophole to limit the size of the bootcamp keeping in mind trainers count as participants.

A benefit of a permit is you are reserving a public use space for an allotted time. So if you arrive at your designated area and find - oh, I don't know - 30 kids having a spontaneous game of kickball there, you can give them the heave-ho.

So you don't run into the same problem as your friend contact the Department of Parks and Recreation and find out under what conditions you would need a permit for an outdoor fitness class. Even if you find the costs to be low, the administration of permits may affect how a class is run and advertised. If the bootcamp is held on a Saturday, but the turnaround for a permit is three days you may require everyone participating to be registered and paid up by the prior Monday or Tuesday. Then should a city offer weekly permits, you could reserve and pay in advance for 8 months of time the park would be in use. But you'd probably want to keep the class to capacity by selling the bootcamp as a training package because if participation drops to a level where a permit isn't required then you’ve wasted money.

But if the permits really are $100, work around it. lol

[crushworx]

Its totally inappropriate to run a boot camp style fitness class in a public place. Parks are there for everyone to enjoy and no one wants to hear angry screaming and whistle blowing on an afternoon walk with their friends, family or dogs. It is also very rude to take over public spaces in order to benefit some individual financial, It would not be acceptable for me to set up a restaurant in the middle of the street, would it? Please find the proper environment to run these loud and obtrusive styles of classes.

[Ronin4help]

I have never heard of anyone getting harrassed by the cops while training clients. Maybe if a local resident called it in because your class is disruptive but that would be rare. I would wait until someone told you you needed a permit before spending money and time getting one.