When participating in IBIZ District events or for your own event, you may want to have a band, give away beer or wine, have vendors on your premises or give away food. The City of Austin requires permits for some of these activities and has regulations on most. We have tried to summarize these policies here and provide information on contacting City of Austin departments for what you need.

Sound Permits

You only need a permit for amplified sound. There are two types of permits, Sound Amplification and Outdoor Music Venue. Both must be applied for in person at the Watershed Protection & Development Review Department, Zoning Review located at 505 Barton Springs Road, 2nd Floor. They will provide you with the form to fill out and answer any questions you may have. You must pay at the time of applying and they do not accept credit cards. You can not get a permit for anything zoned residential.

A SOUND AMPLIFICATION PERMIT is needed for any amplified sound. The cost is $33.00 and it's good for only one day and you can only get one per month.

Within 100 feet of residential zoned property:
You can have amplified sound without a permit from 10am to 10pm but only up to 75 decibels (measured at the property line). What does 75 decibels sound like? The average lawnmower is 90 decibels.

Between 100 and 600 feet of residential zoned property:
You'll need a permit for sound from 10am to 8pm on Sunday through Thursday or 10am to 10pm on Friday or Saturday. The sound at the property line is limited to 75 decibels.

Beyond 600 feet of residential zoned property:
You'll need a permit for sound from 10am to 2am any night of the week.

You cannot have amplified sound within 300 feet of a school, church or hospital.

An OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE PERMIT is probably a better choice. The cost is $50.00 but it's good for a year and you could have music every day instead of just one 24-hour period. The 75 decibel rule applies here as well and the hours are better.

You may have outdoor music:

Between 10:30am and 10:30 pm on Sunday through Wednesday.

Between 10:30am and 11:00pm on Thursday

Between 10:30 am and 12:00 midnight on Friday and Saturday

Most of the Third Thursday merchants have found it's better to offer beer or wine inside the store or on a patio and not host a keg in the front parking lot. A keg out front is more difficult to control in terms of underage drinking and vagrants and it doesn't bring people into your store. However there are no laws against it.

If you have a liquor license, there are a different set of regulations that apply. We assume you are familiar with these. For those merchants who do not operate a restaurant, bar or liquor store and do not have a liquor license, the following rules apply.

You cannot sell beer or wine but you can give it away.
This also means you can't charge an entry fee of any kind to get to the alcohol since this is construed as selling it. In other words, free means absolutely free, no purchase necessary, no tip jar, no donations.

You cannot give away alcohol before 7am on weekdays or before noon on Sunday or after 2:15am.

You cannot give away alcohol within 300 feet of a school, church or day care facility.

You cannot give away alcohol to minors or anyone who is intoxicated.
Don't give any alcohol to anyone under 21. It is your responsibility to check and monitor. The penalties are stiff for this. Giving alcohol to a minor or intoxicated person is a Class A Misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or a $4,000 fine.

Any further questions can be directed to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) at 451-1231 or www.tabc.state.ts.us.

If you host vendors (arts & crafts, manufacturer's reps, etc) on your private property, technically you need a temporary use permit. However, practically speaking, the temporary use permit is designed for booths that will be in use longer than one night. If Guadalupe started looking like a daily flea market, the city would probably start checking permits. But for 3-4 hours on one night, it's just not practical. Do keep the booths off the sidewalk and any public property though.

There is a vendor's permit for individual vendors who wish to set up on a sidewalk. It isn't applicable here though because the sidewalks aren't wide enough to allow a permitted vendor.