By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

In its first meeting of the 2013-14 fiscal year, the Downtown Benicia Alliance on Monday had a lively discussion about the merits of Benicia hosting an event for motorcycle enthusiasts, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 12.

Members of the DBA have been calling the event Biketoberfest.

However, concerns were aired during a report by the DBA promotions subcommittee — comprised of Christine Meade of Capitol Café, Frank Cassese of Courtyard Customs and Tom Hamilton of The Rellik Tavern — that not enough planning has been done to stage an event at which it has been estimated as many as 300 motorcyclists may attend.

DBA Chair Leah Shelhorn and others worried that as the prospective date for the event approaches, little in the way of cost analysis has been undertaken.

Meade said Cassese had looked into advertising in Thunder Press, the largest West Coast motorcycle magazine. She added that some local bars would send also out Evites for the event.

“We’re putting together a packet for merchants, for ideas of what they want to promote following the event so we get the return customers,” she said, adding that the idea of special parking for motorcycles on First Street had also been proposed.

Shelhorn, however, worried that with such a big event, time was running out to have proper planning in place.

For one, the date — Oct. 12 — has not yet been finalized, she pointed out, adding that she’d expected to see more in the way of concrete plans by this point.

“If you’re going to bring something, because we’ve only discussed this, we need the costs, if you say that we have spaces that you want, we need to make a map of First Street,” she said. “You need to have everything that we need to see physically in order to vote. I’m not going to vote willy-nilly without everything written down.

“This is a big project, and I think that we are running out of time. It needs to be done right.”

Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani said if Biketoberfest may require a conditional-use permit. “It is important to have a definition of what the event is, and what it consists of, (to) assist city staff in advising you all in what the next steps are.”

He suggested using a city special event application as part of the process. “It … kind of causes one to think about all the items necessary in the description of the event,” he said.

He suggested sitting down with city staff to discuss the event. “At the very least it will require (that) you go through an application, which will benefit the board to actually have a description of what it is the event requires,” he said.

“Then there are some specific items you can have in August for the board to take action. For example, is this something that the DBA wants to sponsor, are there any fees associated with it, how does it affect your insurance? All those things can then be actionable by the board.”

Hamilton suggested that Giuliani walk the DBA through the process “when the appropriate time comes, which is as soon as possible. Obviously we need to go to (the) Parks (and Recreation Department) and discuss it with them first.”

Hamilton also suggested reaching out to a group in Benicia that might be interested in aiding in the event.

“I think with our limited resources, and our limited amount of time that each of us can put into this, if we go to Lions, or Kiwanis, or Main Street or whoever it is, and reach out to them to partner with us in this event, I think it would be advantageous,” he said.

“We need as much help on this as we can possibly get if it’s going to be a success.”