San Francisco commission backs plan to codify ‘shared spaces’ and parklets

The San Francisco Entertainment Commission voted to support city legislation that would make the pandemic-era shared-spaces program permanent and consolidate parklet, sidewalk merchandising and curbside activations into a single code framework. Robin Abad, presenting staff recommendations, said the ordinance is organized around nine policy goals that aim to preserve emergency-era efficiencies while adding design and safety rules intended to protect emergency access and neighborhood function.

"These programs were conceived to bring activities that were prohibited indoors, during COVID, safely out of doors," Abad said, describing permit types that range from fully public parklets to movable commercial parklets and curbside activations. Abad noted the city has received more than 3,000 shared-spaces permit applications and highlighted the JAM (Just Add Music) permit program as an important cultural layer.

The ordinance would phase in certain requirements and fees to avoid immediate financial burdens on small businesses: staff said applications would remain free through the current fiscal year, fees would begin to be assessed in the next fiscal year, and collections could be deferred until later in the year. The legislation also proposes a single electronic intake with back-end routing to the appropriate department and a 30-day permit turn-around target for codified permits.

Abad said the proposal requires neighbor consent for shared spaces that appear in front of a ground-floor tenant and, where a tenant does not exist, consent from the property owner. The ordinance would also require publicly accessible seating in curbside parklets so the installations offer neighborhood benefits outside business hours.

Commissioners praised outreach and the program’s equity emphasis; one commissioner cited staff data that more than half of shared-spaces operators are women-owned and a substantial share are immigrant- or minority-owned. The commission voted to send a staff-prepared letter of support to the Board of Supervisors and related bodies.

Next steps: staff indicated the ordinance will move through informational hearings, including the Planning Commission and the Municipal Transportation Agency, ahead of Land Use and full Board of Supervisors hearings. Staff encouraged interested stakeholders to monitor sf.gov/shared-spaces-future for hearing dates and comment opportunities.