Los Altos and Los Altos Hills folks can dust off their dancing shoes.
At its May 11 meeting, the Los Altos City Council approved a permit for the locally sponsored Millennium Eve special event planned for Dec. 31.
The main venue for the celebration will be near downtown Los Altos under a tent at the city-owned soccer fields next to the Hillview Center.
A private group of citizens is organizing the party that will be open to the public.
The city is not co-sponsoring the event, said city clerk Carol Scharz. The organizers are "coming to us to use city facilities," she said.
The Millennium Eve festivities are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. for dinner. At 10:30 p.m. general admission guests will arrive. A maximum of 3,000 will be welcomed, planners said.
Musical entertainment and dancing will be on tap throughout the evening inside the 100- by 300-foot tent, Scharz said in a staff report.
The tent will be raised over a wooden floor to be built on wooden pallets 4 inches above the grass, said Gunilla Cook, executive director for the event. "It will not affect the soccer field," she said.
Parking for the evening will be in the downtown parking plazas with the main entrance to the festivities through the Los Altos Library entrance driveway off San Antonio Road.
Event planners have asked to close Hillview Road, between San Antonio Road and the Hillview Community Center on Dec. 31. Police or security guards will help residents come and go as needed, Scharz said.
Party organizers expect to hire 20 private security guards with radios for the event.
Cost to the city for extra police, field restoration if necessary, cleaning and tent inspections is estimated to be $8,770. The organizers have formed a nonprofit organization called the Los Altos Cultural Association, and plan to donate their profits to the History House Education Center.
City policy allows for a 50 percent subsidy of special events sponsored by nonprofit groups. So the city's cost would be about $4,385.
Councilman Francis La Poll raised concerns about requiring the applicants to carry $2 million in insurance.
"That's trivial," he said, "when you consider 3,000 will be drinking and driving."
City Manager Phil Rose said the annual Arts & Wine Festival has had people "drinking all day" and that more people attend Arts & Wine. He suggested an insurance amount similar to what the applicant carries for Arts & Wine.
Resident Bob Norton raised concerns about tent safety. The council agreed to require the applicants to have a qualified tent engineer check out the tent. Cook said there would be no open flame in the tent.
"I want to make sure that thing doesn't come down," said Mayor Lou Becker.
Councilwoman Kris Casto asked the organizers to be especially sensitive to the Hillview residents, considering that their street will be closed. She asked Cook to consider a "goodwill effort, to do more than notifying."
Tickets are $500 for the full evening of dinner and dancing. Of that, $250 is tax deductible, Cook said. For guests who come at 10:30 p.m., tickets cost $75.
In addition to the fair market value of what the customer receives for the $500 ticket - dinner and dancing - an additional amount for overhead for running the event, may be included in the deductible portion, said Mark Smallhouse. An attorney, Smallhouse serves on the board of directors of the Los Altos Cultural Association that is running the Millennium Eve celebration.
The council asked that the party be over by 2 a.m. and that the planners provide, as security against damages to city property, a $10,000 certificate of deposit by Dec. 1.