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Committee advances Tang-backed waivers for small-business awnings and pedestrian lighting
Summary
The Budget & Finance Committee voted to adopt amendments and forward to the full Board an ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Katie Tang's office, that waives local permit fees for awning replacements and pedestrian-level lighting for eligible small businesses in May and narrows eligibility to firms with 100 or fewer employees.
Supervisor Mark Farrell—chaired the Budget & Finance Committee meeting on May 1 and the committee heard a brief presentation from Diana Kizon of Supervisor Katie Tang——office on legislation to waive permit fees for replacing existing awnings, for pedestrian-level lighting, and related local permit fees for small businesses.
Kizon said the ordinance aims to support small businesses during Small Business Month by removing a common barrier: business owners replacing existing awnings or adding pedestrian lighting often must obtain permits and pay fees. She presented outreach materials, including a fact sheet translated into English, Spanish and Chinese, and a draft education plan coordinated with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and other city partners.
The committee reviewed and adopted a set of non-substantive amendments proposed by Tang's office: add an explicit waiver of local permit fees, require that signs be attached to awnings (rather than allow a blanket sign-improvement waiver), reduce the ordinance's small-business definition from 500 to 100 employees to target the smallest firms, and apply the waiver retroactively to May 1 to cover the short outreach window. Kizon told the panel the changes had been reviewed by the city attorney and deemed non-substantive.
There was no public comment on Item 1. The committee moved to adopt the amendments and to forward the item to the full Board with a recommendation; both motions carried without opposition. The item is scheduled to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda for May 7, 2013.
The committee—action leaves final approval to the full Board; if adopted, the ordinance would temporarily reduce the cost and permitting friction for small storefront upgrades while the city conducts outreach to notify eligible business owners.
