Lake Worth Beach officials passed an ordinance intended to restrict feed-the-homeless events in city parks on Tuesday night.
After 10 p.m. at city hall, commissioners voted 3-1 to require any event with more than 25 people in a park or public space to get an approved permit.
The measure came in response to complaints from downtown businesses and visitors about food-share events for people experiencing homelessness in Bryant Park. The ordinance moves such events to parks away from downtown and coincides with the re-opening of a hotel next to waterfront Bryant Park this spring.
Commissioner Christopher McVoy, the lone no-vote, criticized the measure's narrow legal verbiage and potentially broad effects.
“These are legal-schmegal stuff to hide that you just don’t want these people visible,” McVoy said, “And that you don’t have it in your heart to say, 'You know what? Sharing some food with some people who need some food, in a nice park, is OK.'”
McVoy said this could impact citizens who want to have a cookout, or a birthday party in a city park.
An approved permit for an event requires an application to the city, estimations on the expected amount of people in attendance, state food safety certifications and $1,000,000 in general commercial liability insurance naming the city, according to the document.
Commissioner Anthony Segrich voted for the measure and said events with upwards of 25 people require clean-up and preparation from city staff.
“Twenty-five people would be five carloads, seven or eight golf carts, or two van loads,” Segrich said, “You know with that volume of traffic there’s been some planning and coordination.”
The ordinance limits food-share events in particular to three parks outside of downtown: Memorial Park Pavilion, Howard Park Pavilion and Northwest Park Pavilion.
A violation of the measure could result in a warning or civil citation. It could also result in a misdemeanor "ordinance violation" through the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, according to the city attorney. However, the attorney called that outcome "unlikely."
McVoy, the commissioner, said the ordinance was “nutty” and “legally risky.”
In 2023, Fort Lauderdale was ordered to pay $640,000 in attorneys’ fees for a similar effort a decade earlier, when a group called Food Not Bombs successfully sued the Broward city over its homeless food-share ordinance.
