(a) Purpose. Office, hotel, and other new commercial developments in the City are benefitted by the availability of childcare for persons employed in such developments close to their place of employment. However, the supply of childcare in the City has not kept pace with the demand for childcare created by new employees. Due to this shortage of childcare, employers will have difficulty in securing a labor force, and employees unable to find accessible and affordable quality childcare will be forced either to work where such services are available outside of San Francisco or leave the work force entirely, in some cases seeking public assistance to support their children. In either case, there will be a detrimental effect on San Francisco's economy and its quality of life.
The San Francisco General Plan encourages "continued growth of prime downtown office activities so long as undesirable consequences of such growth can be avoided" and requires that there be the provision of "adequate amenities for those who live, work and use downtown." In light of these provisions, the City should impose requirements on developers of certain commercial projects designed to mitigate the adverse effects of the expanded employment facilitated by such projects. To that end, the Commission is authorized to promote affirmatively the policies of the General Plan through the imposition of special childcare development or assessment requirements. It is desirable to impose the costs of the increased burden of providing childcare necessitated by such commercial development projects directly upon the sponsors of new development generating the need. This is to be done through a requirement that the sponsor construct childcare facilities or pay a fee into a fund used to foster the expansion of and to ease access to affordable childcare as a condition of the privilege of development.
(b) Findings. The Board of Supervisors has reviewed the San Francisco Citywide Nexus Analysis (“Nexus Analysis”), and the San Francisco Infrastructure Level of Service Analysis, both on file with the Clerk of the Board in File No. 230764 and, under Section 401A, adopts the findings and conclusions of those studies and the general and specific findings in that Section, specifically including the Childcare Findings, and incorporates those by reference herein to support the imposition of the fees under this Section.
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