Supervisors advance Civic Center Community Benefit District renewal while property owners raise assessment concerns

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Transportation Committee on May 13 advanced a resolution of intention to renew and expand the Civic Center Community Benefit District (CBD), while members of the public warned that some property owners could face substantial assessment increases.

Chris Korgas of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development told the committee petitions representing 38.07% weighted support were submitted on April 30 and described the special-election timetable. He said the renewed district would run for 15 years and “sunset on 12/31/2034.” He also described the ballot and notice process and warned staff must meet controller deadlines in August to place assessments on property tax bills; if the timeline is missed, the city would need to send manual bills, which OEWD said risks nonpayment and liens.

Amy Cohen, who coordinates the Civic Center Commons initiative, and Tracy Everwine, executive director of the Civic Center CBD, described expanded boundaries that would add UN Plaza and parts of the Van Ness corridor and said the CBD would scale up cleaning, pressure washing, and ambassador staffing alongside more events and programming. Everwine described core services — “community ambassadors, our invaluable clean team, and our activation work” — and told the committee that the renewed CBD would conduct fundraising and increase stewardship of public space.

Several property owners and representatives urged changes. Joanne Desmond (IATSE Local 16), speaking for SHN (Shorenstein, Hayes, Nederlander), said SHN did not receive notice that it was being moved from the Tenderloin CBD into the Civic Center CBD and argued that large theaters already pay for security and cleanup; she urged either reassigning theaters to a lower-assessment zone or discounting assessments for privately funded security and maintenance. Peter Ziblatt, land-use counsel for SHN, said “the magnitude” of the change — assessments that could rise “3x, 4x” — had only recently become clear to his client and asked the committee to reconsider the assessment methodology or zone placement.

Committee members and staff described extensive outreach (mailers, one-on-one visits, open houses and steering-committee meetings) but acknowledged uneven perceptions among some private owners. Korgas and the engineer noted that any boundary or assessment-method changes are legally and technically sensitive and could require re-petitioning; that constrained how much could be changed at this stage.

To allow those conversations to continue while keeping the process moving, Chair Aaron Peskin moved “to send this to the full Board without recommendation,” a procedural step the committee took without objection. The Committee of the Whole hearing on the resolution is scheduled for July 16, 2019; if the CBD proceeds, ballots will be mailed as part of a special election and OEWD will seek to meet controller deadlines so assessments appear on November tax bills.

What happens next: staff, the CBD renewal steering committee and affected property owners will continue discussions about zone placement and assessment calculations before the Committee of the Whole hears the renewal on July 16. The Committee voted to forward the resolution to the full Board without recommendation to preserve committee oversight while allowing time for technical adjustments.

Actions and votes: Chair Peskin made a motion to forward the resolution of intention for the Civic Center CBD renewal and expansion to the full Board without recommendation; the motion was taken without objection and the item was forwarded for consideration by the full Board.