City announces legislations to address awning compliance, DBI delays enforcement for 6 months

(SAN FRANCISCO) Mayor London Breed, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Joel Engardio announced legislative actions on February 28 to address the challenge that a large number of small business and property owners face related to awning citations issued by the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) in recent months.

The plans include an amnesty program, a delay of compliance enforcement for 180 days, and an amendment to the existing law to waive fees for new awning permit applications in May each year.

Northeast Community Credit Union CEO Lily Lo has offered assistance to several dozen business and property owners who received notices of violations on awnings and security gates from DBI.

"I have written letters on behalf of the businesses to DBI asking for extensions on deadlines, so they can take advantage of the awning fee waiver program in May at DBI. It is good to hear about the amnesty program and the delay of the enforcement for 6 months. But at the end of the day, each business still needs to face the challenges of paying thousands of dollars to hire an architect to apply for a permit," said Lo after she heard the plans from news reporters.

"Many of the businesses who received the notices of violations have been in business for 30 to 60 years. The proposed plans are still very difficult for many of them," Lo said.

Albert Chang is one of the property owners of the building which houses Grand Place Restaurant on Washington Street. He also received a notice from DBI for the violation of without permit for the restaurant's roll down security gate installed 30 years ago.

“It is too costly for any merchant to replace a front gate under current economic conditions,” said Chang in an interview with Wind Newspaper. He had checked with a contractor who estimated the cost would be around $35,000 to $40,000 for a roll down gate including the entire process of getting a permit.

According to the joint statement released by Breed and Peskin, they are working on legislation to create an amnesty program for existing awning owners who received notices of violations from DBI. The proposed legislation will be drafted by the City Attorney's Office. The details of the legislation have not been released yet.

"The goal of the program will be to create a path people can follow to come into compliance before any enforcement action is taken, except in the case where there are urgent life safety issues," Breed and Peskin said in a statement.

The latest number announced by Breed and Peskin that DBI received 179 anonymous complaints about illegally installed business awnings throughout San Francisco between November 1, 2022 and February 23, 2023. The complaints concentrated in four neighborhoods - Chinatown, Richmond, Haight, and Tenderloin.

Breed and Peskin also said that DBI would delay compliance on enforcement for 180 days for any issues of notices of violations, except for any cases of urgent life safety issues.

May is Small Business Month in San Francisco. Supervisor Engardio introduced an ordinance at the Board of Supervisors meeting on February 28 to amend the existing planning and building codes in regards to the small business month awning fee waiver program in May.

The current program provides fee waivers or reductions for awning replacements during the month of May each year. Engardio's legislation will add a fee waiver for all new installation of awnings in May to expand the coverage in the program.

The city will host a free workshop on the permitting process for the installation of storefront awnings. The workshop is being held on Monday, March 6 at 1:00 pm at Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Clubhouse, 830 Sacramento Street. The event, which will be in English and Chinese, is in partnership with the Office of Supervisor Aaron Peskin, DBI, the San Francisco Fire Department, the Planning Department, and the Office of Small Business.