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Commission backs Supervisor Tang's vacant-storefront registry to track empty commercial storefronts
Summary
The Building Inspection Commission voted unanimously June 19 to support Supervisor Katie Tang's ordinance (file 140284) to register vacant or abandoned commercial storefronts and impose a registration fee, aiming to improve data for business attraction and targeted neighborhood assistance.
Supervisor Katie Tang told the Building Inspection Commission she introduced an ordinance to capture commercial ground-floor vacancies that currently fall through gaps in the residential vacant-and-abandoned registry. "We actually hope to not have to charge these property owners," Tang said, describing the registry as a tool to better populate StorefrontSF and connect small businesses to available spaces.
Tang said a 2013 manual count by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development in 25 neighborhood corridors found roughly 180 commercial vacancies but only seven listed on the DBI registry, and that the proposal would require owners to list prior uses, square footage and ADA improvements. Tang said the Downtown examples and Outer Sunset counts showed the program is intended to be data-driven and to allow flexibility for owners who can show they are actively marketing space.
Commissioners praised the proposal but pressed staff on enforcement, equity and administrative impact. Commissioner Walker said enforcement should be paired with incentives: "The best way to keep buildings from being vacant is to make it more expensive to be vacant than to rent," he said, urging both carrot-and-stick approaches. Deputy City Attorney Marlena Byrne advised that fees collected must tie legally to the cost of administering the program and noted uses should be examined on a case-by-case basis.
A public commenter, Henry Kanilowitz, president of the Council of District Merchants Associations, urged approval, saying, "This will give [owners] an incentive" to lease or maintain storefronts and noted city programs can help outfit spaces for tenants.
After discussion the commission moved and voted to support the legislation. The commission's roll-call vote recorded unanimous support.
Next steps: the commission's formal support will be transmitted with DBI's report; implementation details (fee level, compliance timeline, public searchability and cross-sharing with OEWD) will be defined as the ordinance proceeds through the Board of Supervisors and through DBI rulemaking.
