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Supervisors advance vacant‑storefront registry ordinance; amendments prompt continuance to Feb. 25
Summary
The Land Use and Transportation Committee advanced an ordinance to require owners of vacant or abandoned commercial storefronts to register and pay an annual fee at registration and to require annual inspections; sponsor Sandra Feuer introduced administrative amendments and the committee continued the item to Feb. 25 to meet notice requirements.
Supervisor Sandra Feuer introduced an ordinance on Feb. 4 that would amend the San Francisco building code to require owners of vacant or abandoned commercial storefronts to register, pay an annual registration fee at the time of registration and submit to annual inspections intended to keep storefronts safe and reduce blight.
"I'm proud to be moving forward with this legislation to address our problem with vacant storefronts," Feuer said, citing neighborhood counts from her office and volunteers that showed far more vacancies than appeared in the Department of Building Inspection roster. She told the committee her office and Richmond District volunteers counted 156 vacant storefronts in District 1 alone.
Feuer said the ordinance would ensure vacant storefronts are identified and registered "regardless of whether the property is being advertised for lease or sale," would increase DBI's resources to monitor compliance and would clarify enforcement and penalties. She offered two administrative amendments: refunding up to half of the registration fee when an owner rents a unit before renewal, and allowing a third‑party licensed professional to conduct the annual inspections rather than DBI staff.
Bill Strachan of the Department of Building Inspection told the committee that an additional provision to shut off utilities is already addressed by the building code and would be redundant. Deputy City Attorney John Givner advised the committee that fees must be tied to the city's cost of operating the program.
Several small‑business and neighborhood speakers told the committee they supported the measure. Daniel Bergerac, president of the Castro Merchants Association, called the proposal "no‑nonsense legislation" and recommended scaling fees by linear frontage. Curtis Bradford of the Tenderloin People's Congress urged a citywide survey and recommended exploring a vacancy tax to improve compliance. Other commenters raised enforcement and cost concerns.
Because the sponsor's amendments were deemed substantive, the committee voted to continue the item so the clerk could issue the required 10‑day notice. Chair Aaron Peskin said the item was continued to the committee's Feb. 25 meeting.
Next steps: the item was continued and will return to the Land Use and Transportation Committee on Feb. 25 for further consideration.
