Drumming Up a Fight over Fees: Santa Barbara Drum Circle Pushes Back on City’s Permitting Fee Hike

What began as a routine permit renewal has metastasized into a tangle involving First Amendment law, municipal fee schedules, and a drum circle divided over whether to take the city’s compromise — or take the city to court.

The Santa Barbara Drum Circle, a weekly, non-commercial percussion gathering that has met near East Beach for decades, found itself under scrutiny late last year after the City’s Parks and Recreation Department moved to bring all outdoor permits into “full compliance” with the city’s approved fee schedule. That shift would have raised the group’s costs from $16 per hour to $33 per hour — more than $100 per week — and initially required commercial liability insurance.

The dispute follows a similar Parks & Recreation enforcement in 2024 involving Santa Barbara’s “Bubble Guy.” At the time, city officials said informal creative activity is allowed in parks, but promoting an event open to the public requires a permit.

The drum circle’s disputation first surfaced publicly at a December 16 City Council meeting, where drum circle representatives warned councilmembers that the new fees would effectively shut the gathering down.

“Fees must be nominal and tied only to actual administrative costs and cannot be revenue generating under Supreme Court precedent,” James Spitzer told the council, identifying himself as a representative of the Santa Barbara Drum Circle. “These fees are misapplied, unconstitutional, and they effectively shut down community expression.”

Spitzer said he and fellow member Peter Lackner signed the original permit years ago after public hearings established a compromise location and schedule for the group — a process triggered by noise complaints in the late 1980s and 1990s. He argued that the permit was never intended to function as a rental or revenue mechanism and that the city later conflated two different permitting systems.

Additionally, Spitzer argues, that the drum circle is essentially like having a “picnic” in a public space, and if they were playing “guitars instead of drums,” there would be no fee at all. 

Several speakers urged the city to allow the drum circle to continue. Delia Moon, an 86-year-old Santa Barbara resident, told councilmembers she had recently discovered the gathering and found it “invigorating and pleasurable,” adding that she hoped it would not be priced out of existence.

On the other side of this, Parks & Recreation had been in talks with the drum circle about finding a middle ground. 

According to Assistant Parks & Recreation Director Jazmin LeBlanc, the drum circle is required to hold a permit under Santa Barbara Municipal Code §15.16.220, which regulates percussion instruments in city parks. While the department initially required insurance, LeBlanc said that requirement has since been waived after the event was deemed low risk.

“The Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department has permitted a drum circle adjacent to East Beach near the large beachside field in Chase Palm Park for many years,” LeBlanc wrote in an email to the Independent. “The fees for this permit have always been the lowest fee available in the City’s Fees and Charges Schedule associated with outdoor special events.”

By early January, Parks and Rec staff proposed returning the drum circle’s fee to its previous level of $16 per hour — a significant reduction from the initially proposed increase — while maintaining that some fee is required for park activities.

“No, we don’t offer permits without fees for activities in parks so that’s not an option at the moment,” LeBlanc wrote. “The Drum Circle has paid permit fees for their activities as far back as I can see when I look at our annual records.”

The revised terms appear acceptable to the group’s current permit holder, Jim McRobie, who emphasized that the compromise reflects the broader sentiment of most participants.

“As far as I’m concerned the city has for now responded appropriately to the circle’s request to not overcharge us and possibly in July eliminate the percussion ordinance that required us to be permitted,” McRobie wrote in an email. “They’ve reduced the original fee increase from $99/wk + insurance to $16/wk.”

As of Tuesday, the department worked to finalize the group’s 2026 permit, which McRobie has signed.

Not all members agree on the path forward. Spitzer, who has been vocal in opposing any permit fee on constitutional grounds and has led the challenge to the city’s permitting structure, said he disagrees with McRobie’s decision to sign the revised permit and does not plan to continue participating in the drum circle. Spitzer maintains that accepting the fee — even at a reduced rate — legitimizes what he views as an unlawful application of city policy to constitutionally protected expressive activity.