City Council voted Tuesday Feb. 4 to award Gateway Church a five-year mass-gathering permit to host its annual fall festival.

Representatives from the church requested the permit in perpetuity, but some members of the council thought too much could change in the coming years.

"Five years is a long time," Councilman Randy Williamson said. "We don't give [permits] perpetuity, to my knowledge."

The event—which runs annually in late October—draws about 10,000 attendees and is held at the church's Southlake campus at 700 Blessed Way.

While perpetuity permits are granted in rare cases–mostly for city-hosted events–a number of problems would be avoided by not doing so in this case, Mayor John Terrell said.

"It sets a precedent to have everyone ask [for perpetuity permits]," he said.

Council members were concerned too much could change over five years, so language was added that may require the church to come before the council to get the permit altered.

"We need to build in a mechanism that if we get a complaint we can say, 'You have to come back in,'" Councilman Martin Schelling said.