Brooklyn Park, MN Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

Brooklyn Park City Code § 95.04(A)(2), inside the chapter governing general parkland operation, makes it unlawful to "[o]perate a still, motion picture, video or other camera for commercial purposes in a park without a city permit." The section carves out one express exception: "News coverage or media journalism is not considered a commercial purpose," so reporters and news crews shooting in a city park don't need a location permit. Everyone else filming for pay, including commercial productions, advertisements, corporate videos, and paid photo shoots, must secure a permit before setting up.

This location-permit requirement sits alongside the broader park-use permitting scheme in § 95.02(B), which separately requires a permit for any "entertainment, tournament, commercial filming, exhibition or any other special use" reasonably expected to draw 25 or more people or that could have a detrimental effect on park property or other users; the city may require security, insurance or a security bond from the permit holder before the shoot, payable in advance. Violating a permit's conditions is independently unlawful under § 95.02(B)(3). A production that also plays amplified sound or uses a loudspeaker on-site triggers the separate sound-equipment permit in § 95.04(C).

Brooklyn Park Police and Park Patrol Officers enforce chapter 95 under § 95.08, with authority to cite, eject, or, for police officers, arrest anyone filming commercially without the required permit; the city may also revoke future park-facility privileges under § 95.08(E) for permit violations.