A lifeline that kept many San Francisco restaurants alive during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic may be there to stay but could cost business owners.
Parklets, makeshift outside seating areas that popped up all over the city, allowed people to dine or shop outdoors and have now become a regular extension of some business footprints.
“I think it makes the city more alive, more vibrant,” said Sharky Laguana, SF Small Business Commission president. “I'd like to hang on to as many parklets as possible.”
About 1,700 parklets popped up across the city during the pandemic but next April, they’re set to expire when the city’s new ordinance rules kick in.
It could require some business owners to make significant modifications to their existing parklets.
Laguana says some compromises had to be made with the fire department, and other agencies, if the structures are there to stay.
“The parklets have to be cut back three feet on each side. So if the parklet occupies the entire parking space, so it will have to be three feet shorter on each side, so six feet shorter,” said Laguana.
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For businesses that make more than $2 million in annual revenue, the first parking space they block will cost them $3,000 in permitting fees, $1,500 for each additional space covered, and $2,000 for an annual license per space.
Those amounts will be cut in half for businesses making less than $2 million a year.
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Some business owners have already ripped them out.
Carlos Miyahira said he dismantled the parklet in front of his restaurant Mi Lindo Peru in the outer Mission two weeks ago.
“We had to upgrade a few things also. So, we were deciding on that and spend more money on it, so we decided not to do that,” said Miyahira.
Once people began returning to indoor dining, he said the hassle of managing the parklet became too difficult.
At least one neighbor likes the newly reopened parking space in front of the restaurant.
“My grandma upstairs, she just had a double lung transplant, so getting to and from the hospital and walk her all the way upstairs has been kind of a hassle. So, it feels pretty good to having parking spaces like this back,” said Andrew Sifuentes, San Francisco resident.
Merchants will have until November first to file an application if they want to keep their parklets.
