San Francisco eating places could also be compelled to take away parklets
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – Many San Francisco restaurants and bars report feeling blind after receiving warnings and notices of code violations due to their outdoor parklets.
The city made the parklets permanent earlier this year, but also issued new rules that could force some restaurants to tear down their parklets entirely.
Some restaurants say the notices have been coming in for weeks from various departments warning owners that they will be fined heavily for not complying with their parklet.
However, a city guide says that this is actually not allowed, at least until June. He says this is a disorganization by the local government and the city needs to do better.
After spending thousands of dollars building outdoor parklets, some San Francisco restaurants and bars say they are now considering demolishing them. Many of them were made aware of these changes when they received warnings of Code violations.
“Many of these violations were incredibly frightening and clumsy. They listed the fines you would have to pay on the first and second days for not following the rules and requested that things be done by December 31st, like finding a contractor in the month of December as if they were there not, ”said Ben Bleiman.
Ben Bleiman owns several bars in the city and is president of the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance.
He says he received a notification and personally knows nearly 30 other bar owners who have received these alerts.
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Bleiman says there has been a major misunderstanding among many owners and a major misunderstanding between city departments.
“The fact is, many of the buildings that have been built do not meet basic city regulations. The second thing that happened is that they started interpreting the permanent legislation and several different departments made interpretations that we did not expect. One thing we didn’t see coming was we had to get them 3 feet from the parking lot hashtags, ”Bleiman said.
Laurie Thomas of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association adds that this is just the beginning of these new rules that have emerged from a new 66-page document.
“Three meters from the ends? The first time I saw this was on September 9th. I have emails that go to people, like what? No, obviously you are built in a red zone or in an intersection. Nowhere did we know you had to move your parklets 20 feet from an intersection, ”said Thomas.
San Francisco made the parklets permanent earlier this year, and according to board-enforcement laws, business owners must comply with the Code by June 30th before they can be fined despite these warnings.
“All the permits, the restaurants, bars, and everything you have, breathed a sigh of relief, only to find that a number of city departments that have not coordinated, have not even obeyed the law that the board of directors Adopted unanimously, issued rectifications and violations with the threat of fines, and fines are not approved or allowed until mid-2022, “said supervisor Aaron Peskin.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin recently enacted law to move that deadline to March 2023, saying the city needs to treat these small businesses better after what they’ve been through for nearly two years.
Supervisor Peskin says the legislation will go to the full board early next month.
He is confident that this will happen, one reason the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance is telling its members not to make any decisions until the city comes together and gives a clear picture of how the rules are moving forward.
