(a) The City has experienced difficulties meeting its basic duty to provide police, fire and emergency medical services (all "essential services") throughout the City on those occasions such as New Year's Eve, Halloween and the 4th of July where multiple simultaneous or overlapping events attract large crowds. The Board of Supervisors finds that the adoption of a special permit procedure for the review and processing of applications for One Time Events permits for these occasions will help ensure sufficient essential services to protect the safety of all residents of and visitors to the City, while accommodating special events to the extent consistent with the City's basic public safety obligations. By authorizing the adoption of a special permit procedure, the Board intends to encourage applicants to apply for One Time Events Permits sufficiently in advance of the event to enable the City to plan for the provision of essential services. Applicants who apply later may have to bear the additional cost of increased security that the City could have avoided with more advance notice. In addition, the Board is authorizing the Commission to place reasonable limits on the number of One Time Event Permits issued on these designated days to the extent that the Commission determines necessary to ensure public safety.
(b) The Entertainment Commission may adopt a special permit procedure for One Time Events occurring on those designated days for which the Commission finds a substantial risk that the approval of multiple, simultaneous or overlapping One Time Events would (i) require the diversion of so great a number of Police Officers to police the events as to prevent adequate police protection to the rest of the City or (ii) result in a concentration of persons and vehicles that would unduly interfere with the proper delivery of essential services in the City. In making this determination, the Commission shall consider the need for the delivery of essential services both on the day of the event and until 6:00 a.m. the next day.
(c) If the Entertainment Commission elects to adopt a special permit procedure under this Section, it shall first consult with the San Francisco Police Department.
(d) This Section empowers the Entertainment Commission to designate no more than 12 days in a calendar year when the special permit procedure shall apply to applications for One Time Event Permits.
(e) The Commission must adopt the procedure for each calendar year no later than November 1 of the preceding year. The Commission may adopt a procedure for multiple calendar years, in which case it may amend the procedure so long as it acts no later than November 1 preceding January 1 of the year to which the amended procedure applies.
(f) The provisions of this Section supplement those set forth in Section 1060.29. Under the special permit procedure authorized under this Section, the following additional provisions apply:
(1) For applications filed 40 days or more before the proposed event, the Commission may not disapprove the application on the ground that the City does not have adequate time to plan for the provision of essential services, although the Commission may disapprove an application under Subsection (f)(3) of this Section.
(2) For applications filed less than 40 days before the proposed event, the Commission may
(A) Impose conditions on the permit that would not have been necessary had the applicant given the City more time to prepare for the delivery of essential services for the event and for the City as a whole on the day of the event. The conditions may require the applicant to bear additional costs for increased security, including requiring the applicant to hire and deploy Security Guards or implement other security measures for increased crowd control purposes and for monitoring to detect and stop illegal or dangerous behavior in connection with the event; or
(B) Disapprove the application on the ground that the applicant filed too late to give the City adequate time to plan for the provision of essential services for the day of the event without compromising the safety and security of the rest of the City where alternative conditions cannot sufficiently mitigate the public safety and security problems that the event poses.
(3) The Commission may disapprove an application for a One Time Event Permit for events proposed for one of the days designated under this Section, irrespective of the date of the filing, where (i) the conduct of the event, when considered in light of all other events occurring on the day of the event, will require the diversion of so great a number of Police Officers to properly police the event as to impair the capacity of the City to provide adequate police protection to the rest of the City and (ii) the Commission is unable to fashion conditions with which the applicant must comply that will address the public safety and security problems that the event poses. In considering whether to disapprove an application, the Commission may consider the number, size, and geographic concentration of proposed One-Time Events for the designated day. For purposes of this Subsection (f)(3), the "day of the event" includes until 6:00 a.m. after the designated day.
(g) The special permit procedure may limit the number of permits issued for the designated days when the Commission finds a substantial risk that approval of all applications for One Time Events for that day would (i) require the diversion of so great a number of Police Officers to properly police all the events as to prevent adequate police protection to the rest of the City and (ii) the Commission is unable to fashion conditions with which the applicant must comply that will address the public safety and security problems that the event poses. In considering whether to limit the number of permits issued for a designated day, the Commission may consider the number, size, and geographic concentration of proposed One-Time Events for the designated day. If the Commission limits the number of permits, the Commission may authorize approval of applications on a first-come first-served basis, selection by lottery, or other method that is objective and fair and unrelated to the content of the Entertainment provided. In addition, the Commission may include a schedule of limits that vary depending on the size and location as they affect congestion that could impede prompt delivery of essential services.
(h) The authority to impose conditions on days designated by the Commission under this Section includes the authority to require Permittees to comply with the conditions both on the designated day and until 6:00 a.m. the next day.
(i) The Commission shall provide at least 10 days notice of the hearing to adopt or amend the special permit procedure. The Commission may provide notice electronically to Businesses then operating under a permit issued by the Commission and may, in addition, provide such additional notice as it deems best calculated to reach the entertainment community.
(j) The Director shall post on the Commission's website the special permit procedure adopted by the Commission. The Director may also provide notice electronically to Businesses then operating under a permit issued by the Commission and such other notice that the Director determines is best calculated to reach the entertainment community.
(k) The Entertainment Commission may delegate to the Director the authority to exercise all powers that this section creates except the power to adopt and amend a special procedure for One Time Event permits for designated days.
(Added by Ord. 239-09, File No. 080323, App. 11/20/2009)