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Supervisors approve first reading of ordinance to regulate sidewalk utility cabinets, require outreach, artwork and graffiti removal
Summary
An ordinance passed its first reading to set permit standards for surface‑mounted utility cabinets on sidewalks, requiring early neighborhood outreach, options for murals, landscaping, rapid graffiti removal and bonds to ensure maintenance.
The Board of Supervisors passed on first reading an ordinance establishing requirements for surface‑mounted utility facilities on public sidewalks, including new permit processes, outreach requirements, options for community murals, and enforcement tools for graffiti and maintenance.
Supervisor Scott Wiener, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the ordinance seeks to bring clarity to a process that residents described at a January hearing as “nebulous and confusing” and that has produced hundreds of installation disputes. Wiener said the law will require utilities to propose multiple viable locations, conduct neighborhood meetings, make good‑faith offers to site cabinets on private property, and allow murals approved by the Arts Commission.
Key provisions: the ordinance mandates front‑loaded community outreach; requires utilities to propose multiple siting options; authorizes city departments to impose conditions to protect pedestrian safety and the Better Streets Plan; requires utilities to post visible contact numbers on boxes and to remove graffiti within 72 hours; allows the city to draw on bonds if utilities fail to maintain boxes; authorizes fines up to $1,000 per day for ongoing violations and, ultimately, removal of repeated violative boxes; and calls for annual DPW hearings on the technical feasibility of undergrounding boxes.
Supervisor Wiener credited Department of Public Works, the Planning Department, Recreation and Park, SF Beautiful and community partners for shaping the ordinance. The measure passed first reading by roll call, 11 ayes.
What happens next: as an ordinance on first reading, it proceeds through the legal process for a subsequent reading and final passage; the law will be retroactive in its provisions as written in the ordinance language on the first reading.
Exclusions/limits: the ordinance acknowledges state law under the California Public Utilities Code grants telephone and related providers rights to use sidewalks, so it focuses on procedural standards rather than a prohibition on installations.
