(a) All City Plazas shall be administered by the Director of RED pursuant to the requirements, rules, and regulations set forth herein or in regulations that the Director of RED adopts.
(b) Steward Identification Process. The Plaza Program shall issue requests for proposals ("RFP") to identify a Steward for each City Plaza. The Plaza Program shall accept the RFP submittals by a specified deadline, which in no case shall be less than three (3) months from the date of RFP release, and the RFP submittals shall include all required information and documents to be deemed responsive.
(c) Upon issuance of any RFP, the Director of RED shall post the Plaza site with a notice of issuance of the RFP, mail notice of the request to property owners and tenants within a 300 foot radius of the exterior boundaries of the Plaza, place a similar request on the Department's website, and take other actions the Director deems advisable to notify the public about the RFP. The Director of RED also shall mail notice to all neighborhood organizations requesting such notice, including those on the Planning Department's neighborhood notification system. The Director of RED shall make reasonable efforts to keep the Plaza site notice visible and legible until the deadline for submitting the RFP.
(1) Operational Requirements. Among other information required for submission as part of the RFP, the applicant shall specify the number of restricted access events, if any, that will be held annually, which number shall not exceed eight (8) single day events. Scheduling of any approved restricted access events shall be spread throughout the calendar year. Public access will not be restricted beyond any approved restricted access events as described in this Subsection.
(2) Upon receipt of eligible proposal(s), the Director of RED shall post proposal(s) to the Department's website for public review within a reasonable time period, not to exceed fourteen (14) days, and the Department shall accept written public comments on said proposal(s) for no less than 30 days after the website posting of said proposal(s) and shall not make an award before the public comment deadline. In addition, the Director shall provide the same public notice as specified above in Section (c) to announce a local public forum to review the awarded proposal.
(d) The following operational requirements shall apply to City Plazas and shall be posted in a prominent location in each City Plaza:
(1) Vending. No person shall bring, or cause to be brought, for the purposes of sale or barter, or have for sale, or sell in exchange, or offer for sale or exchange any goods, wares, or merchandise in the City Plaza, except for which the City and County of San Francisco issues any required permit or other authorization. Notwithstanding the above provision, the sale or distribution of newspapers, periodicals, or other printed or otherwise expressive material is allowed subject to the applicable requirements of the Public Works Code.
(2) Performance of Labor. No person, other than authorized City personnel, shall perform any labor, on or upon the Plaza, including, but not limited to, taking up or replacing soil, turf, ground, pavement, structures, trees, shrubs, plants, grass, flowers, or similar activities without prior permission from the Director of RED.
(3) Camping Prohibited. The provisions of Park Code Section 3.12 concerning camping shall apply to the Plaza except that the RED shall administer these provisions.
(4) No Unpermitted Structures. There shall be no stationing or erecting of any structure(s) on the Plaza without prior permission from the Director of RED.
(5) No Smoking. Pursuant to the Municipal Code, smoking is prohibited on any unenclosed area of property in the City and County of San Francisco that is under the jurisdiction of any City department if the property is a park, square, garden, sport or playing field, pier, or other property used for recreational purposes, or as a farmers' market. Given the use of the subject areas as an outdoor public plaza, this prohibition on smoking shall apply to City Plazas.
(6) Other Restrictions.
(A) There shall be no skateboarding, bicycle riding, or pets off leash without prior permission from the Director of RED.
(B) There shall be no littering, feeding of wildlife, or defacing of public property.
(C) No alcohol is allowed to be consumed in City Plazas without prior permission from the Director of RED and all required City and State authorizations and permits.
(D) General Advertising is prohibited.
(e) Additional Requirements Adopted at Time of City Plaza Approval. Other regulations and requirements, including hours of operation, shall be adopted when each City Plaza is legislatively approved and incorporated into the Plaza Program. Such regulations and requirements shall be posted in a prominent location in each City Plaza.
(f) License Terms.
(1) The terms of operation, use, and maintenance of a City Plaza shall be specified in a RED license that is subject to approval of the Board of Supervisors. These terms shall include, but are not limited to, scope of permissible activities; daily, weekly, and/or monthly time periods authorized for such permissible activities and the scope of such activities and uses, the minimum number of yearly programmed events; the permissible number of annual restricted access events, if any; Steward’s liability for and indemnity of the City with respect to the City Plazas, and the Steward's required insurance, all as approved by the City Risk Manager or any successor agency; the on-going community engagement plan; the strategies to engage with existing City programs; the authorized signage program; the delineation of maintenance responsibilities between the City and the Steward; the expiration date of the license; remedies for violating the license, including termination; and the payment of fees, including any administrative fees as set forth in Section 94.7 and any amounts that the Steward pays to RED in consideration of its City Plaza license.
(2) The standard term of a City Plaza license shall be no longer than five (5) years; provided however, that in unique circumstances or in cases where the Steward installs significant improvements as part of the license, the Director of RED may recommend a longer term to the Board of Supervisors for its consideration.
(3) The license shall require that the Steward submit a monthly calendar of events to the local District Police station, the Director of RED, and the Plaza Program thirty (30) days prior to the start of the subject month.
(g) Exceptions to Operational Requirements and Terms of the License.
(1) Exceptions to Operational Requirement. From time to time and due to unique circumstances, the Operational Requirements set forth above in Subsections (d) or (e) may not be appropriate for a particular event. In such cases, and after a duly noticed public hearing, the Director of RED may issue an exception to the requirements of Subsection (d) or (e) if he or she finds in his or her sole discretion that the public interest would be served by the grant of the exception.
(2) Exceptions to License Terms. After written request from a Steward the Director of RED is authorized to issue non-material exceptions or other minor amendments to the terms of a City Plaza license as long as the Director of RED, in consultation with the City Attorney's Office, determines that such exceptions or amendments do not materially increase City's costs or obligations, decrease the benefit the City receives under the Steward's license for the City Plazas, and are reasonable within the purpose of the Plaza Program. The Director shall issues such exceptions in writing, retain the granted exceptions in a file available for public review, and shall post such correspondence on the Department's and Plaza Program's website.
(h) Additional Permits Required for Certain Activities. Because certain activities may require additional permits or approvals from City or State agencies, boards, commissions, or departments, the Steward shall be solely responsible for obtaining all other permits or approvals that may be necessary for or related to activities at the City Plaza. The Director of RED, as necessary, may consult with the Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation (ISCOTT), to identify and coordinate streamlined permitting opportunities that may be available for certain activities on City Plazas.
(i) Violation of Requirements and Regulations.
(1) If any person has occupied a City Plaza in violation of the requirements and regulations, the Director of RED or his designee or agent shall immediately order the violator to vacate the occupied area or abate the violation. Should the violation not be corrected as ordered, the permittee or person shall be subject to enforcement pursuant to the Police Code.
(2) The Plaza Program will establish administrative procedures concerning methods to process, address, respond to, and document any complaints concerning operation of a Plaza. If the Director of RED receives verified complaints concerning violations of the terms and conditions of the Steward's license within the initial six (6) month period of operation, the Director of RED shall conduct a public hearing on the Steward's conduct. After the initial six (6) month term, the Director of RED may extend the term to every twelve (12) months for the consideration of subsequent complaints and action thereon. Based on the information presented at the hearing, the Director may terminate, suspend, modify, or condition the license or take any other action the Director deems appropriate under the terms of the license in response to the Steward's conduct.
(3) If the Plaza Steward conducts less than the minimum number of annual programmed events stipulated in the license, the Director of RED may terminate, suspend, modify or condition the license or take any other action the Director deems appropriate under the terms of the license in response to the Steward's conduct.
(i) Regulations. The Board of Supervisors authorizes the Director of RED to adopt regulations as set forth in this Ordinance and any additional regulations that the he or she deems appropriate and necessary for the proper management and use of the City Plazas ("Regulations"). The Director of RED also is authorized to post signage setting forth the Regulations. Such Regulations shall be adopted after a public hearing and thereafter made available to any member of the public that requests such Regulations.