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(a) General. There shall be a Special Sign District known as the “Transit Center Special Sign District” in the area bounded by Market Street on the north, Folsom Street on the south, Steuart Street on the east, and between New Montgomery and Third Streets on the west, and in the area bounded by Folsom, Harrison, Essex, and Second Streets, but excluding the planned City Park between Mission, Howard, Second, and Beale Streets and those portions of the Transit Center District Plan Area included in Zone 1 of the Transbay Redevelopment Plan Area, which include portions of land bounded by Spear, Mission, Folsom, and Second Streets, as designated on Sectional Map SSD of the Zoning Map of the City and County of San Francisco. The original copy of said Sectional Map with this Special Sign District indicated thereon is on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in File No 170941.
(b) Purpose and Findings. In addition to the purposes stated in Sections 101 and 601 of this Code, the following purposes apply to the Transit Center Special Sign District. These purposes constitute findings that form a basis for these regulations and provide guidance for their application.
(1) A new 5.4-acre park called the City Park (which in its early stages of planning was known as the Rooftop Park) is planned to be located atop the Transbay Transit Center, which will be located between Mission and Howard Streets on the north and south, respectively, and between Second and Beale Streets on the west and east, respectively. The City Park will include an outdoor amphitheater, gardens, trails, open grass areas, a children’s play space, a restaurant, and a café, and will be accessible from 10 entry points, including bridges from neighboring buildings and a gondola from a planned ground-level floor of the Transbay Transit Center off Mission Street between the planned Salesforce Tower and Fremont Street, to be known as Mission Square, and the City Park will provide needed open space in an area of the City with few parks.
(2) The Under Ramp Park is a new 4.2-acre neighborhood park planned to be situated primarily under the elevated bus ramp that will provide a direct connection from the new Transbay Transit Center to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, but approximately 25% of the park will be open to the sky. The Under Ramp Park will include a children’s play area, cafés, and terraces, a beer garden, and a multilevel pavilion with cultural and retail programs. The area between Folsom, Harrison, Essex, and Second Streets is adjacent to the planned site of the Under Ramp Park.
(3) Illuminated signs and other signs visible from a public park or privately owned public open space (POPOS) may negatively impact the aesthetics of the park or POPOS and the enjoyment of its users by, among other things, interfering with the natural scenery and landscape afforded by the park or POPOS, as well as creating unwanted illumination and glare.
(4) Evening and nighttime illumination of signs in the Plan Area would disturb the sleep of residents in the area and disrupt their general enjoyment of their homes.
(c) Controls.
(1) Illumination for any new sign that is located in the Transit Center Special Sign District, where any part of the face of the sign is over 35 feet in height, as defined in Section 602, shall meet the following requirements:
(A) the sign’s illumination shall be dimmable; and,
(B) all illumination shall be turned off from 11:00 p.m. each evening until 6:00 a.m. the following morning.
(2) Except as specified in subsection (c)(3) below, a new sign that is within 200 feet of an existing park under the jurisdiction and supervision of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission or any other public agency or planned public park, where a planned park is one that the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission or any other public agency has identified as a site for a park through a public planning process and identified in the Transit Center District Plan, or within 200 feet of a POPOS of 1/4 acre or greater, and that is visible from such a park or POPOS shall be permitted if it is 50 square feet or less and its highest point reaches a height of 35 feet or less, as defined in Section 602.
(3) A new Business Sign, as defined in Section 602, that is within 200 feet of the City Park and is visible from the City Park shall only be permitted if it meets the following requirements:
(A) If the new Business Sign is located on the façade of a building directly abutting or with a pedestrian connection to the City Park,
(i) the sign shall consist of only metal lettering, painted or unpainted, raised off the façade of the building to which it is attached, with a maximum vertical dimension of 30 inches and a total maximum area of 50 square feet;
(ii) the highest point of the sign shall reach a height of 15 feet or less from the nearest finished ground plane of the City Park; and,
(iii) the sign’s illumination shall consist only of indirect illumination, pursuant to Section 602 of this Code, including but not limited to halo-style lighting.
(B) If the new Business Sign is not located on the façade of a building directly abutting or with a pedestrian connection to the City Park, the sign shall comply with Section 607 of this Code.
(Added by Ord. 234-17, File No. 170941, App. 12/8/2017, Eff. 1/7/2018)
(Former Sec. 608.4 added by Ord. 263-65, App. 10/22/65; amended by Ord. 360-94, App. 10/19/94; repealed by Ord. 217-16, File No. 160424, App. 11/10/2016, Eff. 12/10/2016)