SAXONBURG — Less than four weeks before the Oktoberfest celebration, a proposed special event permitting ordinance before the borough council is causing a stir.

The proposal, which would, among other obligations, require organizers of special events to receive approval from borough council, the police department and the fire and ambulance company, will be considered by council Tuesday.

The proposal already faces stiff opposition from members of the business community.

Doug Sprankle, owner of the eponymous neighborhood market and organizer of the Saxonburg Oktoberfest, said while he understands the reasoning behind the proposal, he disagrees with many of the provisions. Chief among his concerns is a sense the ordinance, if passed, would impose an undue burden on businesses which wish to host events.

“The spirit of the law is to control more of these events, but it makes it financially impossible for small businesses to have these events without spending a lot of money and time,” he said.

Borough councilman Josh Novotony, who said he's part of the ordinance committee and helped write the maligned proposal, said he, along with council generally, have been incorrectly derided as opponents of area small businesses because of the proposal.

Novotony said although he has no issue with negative feedback to government proposals — “I don't like rules either,” he said — he has a problem with what he called falsehoods circulating online about the ordinance and its motivations.

“I wish every one of our ordinances got this much attention because it promotes writing a well-written, fair ordinance,” he said. “I'm not OK with how people online are being misled by a certain community page that claims to be news and community when it feels more like cronyism when they're out for the likes, and I guess that's what Facebook is all about. This is people in the community getting riled up for almost no reason at all.”

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