Event production in Fort Myers
where the sound rule is a person, not a clock

The City of Fort Myers lists what makes something an event that needs a permit: "a gathering of over 75 people, closing a road, using public space for profit, open flame/food trucks, putting up a tent in public space, and amplified sound." Seventy-five people is a low threshold. And amplified sound is on the list by itself, so a small stage with a PA needs a permit even if forty people are watching.

The city runs two tracks. An event on or involving public property, such as a park or a road closure, files a Special Event Permit. An event solely on private property files a Temporary Outdoor Activity Permit, called the TEM, which is also the permit required to install a tent on private property. The city states that the TEM is not accepted by email. It is filed through the city's online portal or in person at Community Development, 1825 Hendry St. Special events are run by the Parks & Recreation Division at 1820 Hendry St.

The page follows the order a production meets the rules: power first, because downtown street furniture decides what gets trucked in; then the sound rule; then street closures and paperwork; then the buildings and the park. The rest of the region is read the same way on the South Florida event production hub.

The handbook says: "Within the downtown area, many light poles contain power outlets that have minimal voltage for low demand use. Food vendors, bands, larger equipment, etc. will, in most cases burn out or 'blow' existing power outlets and should plan for use of quiet generators."

It adds a second sentence about concerts: "Access to electrical power for concerts may require permits and a licensed electrical contractor."

Put together, those two sentences are a power plan. A downtown Fort Myers show arrives with its own distribution and quiet generators and does not plan on finding power at the curb. And the electrical permit and the licensed contractor are lead-time items. They get settled with the event permit, not on load-in morning.

The handbook also requires a site plan showing tents, vendors, generators, stages, performers, portable restrooms and staging vehicles. Generator positions are therefore drawn before the permit, not after it.

The handbook says: "The City of Fort Myers has a noise ordinance. Should at any time a representative of the event planner, organizer, police department, code enforcement, or other personnel request the noise related to the event, a specific activity, or action be lowered, then it must be followed. The City reserves the right to shut down any event that does not comply."

What the handbook does not contain is a clock time. Some cities print an hour after which sound stops. The Fort Myers event handbook prints a discretionary power instead, one that police, code enforcement or other city personnel can use at any moment during the event.

For a production that changes where the control sits. The control is a person, not a time, so the design of the system and the person holding the console matter more than the schedule. The sound system is aimed and zoned to keep energy where the audience is, the engineer knows who from the event team to expect at the console, and the request to turn down is answered right away. The last-resort decision, a shutdown, is not something to negotiate at 10 p.m. on site. Questions about how the ordinance is applied belong in the permit conversation with the city, before the event.

The handbook says road closures "should be minimized to the greatest extent possible" and that downtown closures "are often detrimental to businesses." That is the city telling an organizer how a closure request will be read.

The Special Events Permits page states that a Right of Way Closure permit application must be filed a minimum of 30 days in advance. The handbook adds a Maintenance of Traffic plan: it must be approved with the event permits for all County and State roads inside the permit area within the city. If a closure is approved, the organizer must complete a Neighborhood Notice of Street Closure/Special Event Form 30 days before the event, and every affected commercial building and private residence must be notified 30 days ahead.

In the handbook's list of city event venues, Centennial Park is marked with an asterisk and this note: "Centennial Park has additional restrictions and limitations on use that should be discussed with the Special Events Coordinator prior to any event planning."

The handbook does not say here what those restrictions are, and this page does not guess. The practical reading is the one the city gives: talk to the Special Events Coordinator before a stage, a layout or a quote exists, not after.

The operator's page states: "Encore is the exclusive provider of Production Rigging at the Caloosa Sound Convention Center," and describes the hall as "featuring 80 solid rigging points capable of accommodating 1,000 lbs. max per point." Rigging at that building is therefore a line item with its own schedule, handled through the provider the operator names.

The operator describes the Caloosa Ballroom as "Divisible into five rooms with a variety of configurations to accommodate 150 or 3,000 attendees." On food and beverage the page says: "All food and beverage is provided by our on-property culinary staff. No outside catering is permitted."

The sources disagree on size. The operator's page gives 40,000 square feet. Lee County's own facility page says "42,000 square feet of exhibit and event space." Both are reported here as published, each attributed to its publisher, and neither has been reconciled.

Florida SouthWestern State College describes its arena as having approximately 3,500 seats and approximately 75,000 square feet, with the first games played November 29, 2016. Both figures are the college's and both are approximate in its own wording. The page is a facilities description and publishes no load-in, rigging or power information, so those are questions for the college before a quote.

All On Stage Productions produces concerts, festivals, municipal and civic events, outdoor builds, street closings and load-ins on sites that have no building. The scope is the stage, the sound, the lighting, the video, the power and the tenting, planned together and drawn once.

For Fort Myers, the method follows the sections above.

• Count the triggers. More than 75 people, a closed road, a tent in public space, food trucks, or amplified sound. Any one of them starts a permit.
• Pick the track. Public property files a Special Event Permit; private property files the TEM, in person or through the portal.
• Bring the power. Distribution and quiet generators, with the electrical permit and licensed contractor on the calendar.
• Run the sound for a person, not a clock. Zoned, aimed, and with an engineer who answers a request to turn down at once.
• Start the closure paperwork at 30 days. Right of Way Closure, neighborhood notice form and Maintenance of Traffic plan.
• Call about Centennial Park first. The city says it has additional restrictions.
• Ask a building what it controls. Rigging provider, catering and square footage are published differently by different sources.

Fort Myers is read alongside Naples for south-west Florida on the South Florida event production hub, and what applies in one city does not carry over to the next. Each page is the place to read that city's rules in its own words.

Venues and sites named on this page are named as public places and from their owners' published pages. Nothing here describes a relationship with any of them.