Committee sends permit-review ordinance to full board after brief debate on parklet access

The Land Use and Transportation Committee voted March 7 to send an ordinance urging departments to review permits within 30 days to the full San Francisco Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation. The measure also included temporary limits tied to a 2023 deadline and provisions for issuing fines for violations.

Chair Supervisor Mirna Melgar presided over the discussion as sponsor Supervisor Aaron Peskin said the item had been discussed at a previous meeting and included a substantive amendment that had been held for additional review. Vice Chair Dean Preston pressed staff on how the measure would affect parklet public-access requirements the board adopted last summer, asking whether the ordinance would delay the rule that a “public bench” be available to non-patrons when temporary pandemic permits sunset.

Robin, of the Planning Department's shared-spaces program, told the committee that existing parklets are currently operating under pandemic permits and are therefore not yet bound by the code-based public-access bench requirement; that provision was set to begin once the pandemic program sunsets, which the department's prior legislation scheduled for June 30, 2022. Deputy City Attorney Anne Pearson said she believed an extension tied to public-access compliance could be non‑substantive but cautioned that staff needed to review any amendment before making a final call.

After public comment and brief discussion, Supervisor Peskin moved to send the item to the full board with a positive recommendation; the clerk called the roll and recorded three ayes (Peskin, Preston, Melgar). The motion passed.

The board clerk advised that items acted on at committee are expected to appear on the full Board of Supervisors agenda of March 15 unless otherwise noted.