(a) The Board of Supervisors by resolution may approve, conditionally approve, or deny applications for a street encroachment permit, also known as a major encroachment permit, to occupy the public right-of-way, as defined in Section 2.4.4, after the Public Works Director processes the permit application in accordance with the requirements of Sections 786 et seq. The Director’s processing of permits shall include a recommendation on the application to the Board of Supervisors. The street encroachment permit shall contain an encroachment agreement that provides additional detail on the permittee’s rights and obligations under the permit, including maintenance of the encroachment, and establishes the regulatory relationship between Public Works and the permittee for implementation of the permit. The encroachment agreement also shall include a permittee maintenance monitoring and reporting program for Public Works’ use in determining compliance with the permit terms. There is no appeal of the Board of Supervisors decision on such permits.
(b) For multi-phase or large-scale development projects, such as projects with a City-approved development agreement, the Board of Supervisors may approve, conditionally approve, or deny an application for a master street encroachment permit that applies to all or a portion of the development project site. As part of the Board of Supervisors approval or conditional approval of such master permit, the Board may provide for the contiguous and non-contiguous annexation of new areas of the project site into the master permit and assignments of obligations from the original permittee to the permittee’s agent or assignee. The Board also may delegate to the Director of Public Works the ability to divide the master permit into separate master permits or individual street encroachment permits. If the Director determines in writing that a delegated action specified in this subsection (b) would involve entirely new or significantly modified encroachments that were not included as part of the Board of Supervisors approval of the multi-phase or large-scale development project or the initial master encroachment permit, then the Board of Supervisors shall approve, conditionally approve, or deny such encroachments as part of a new or modified master street encroachment permit. Notwithstanding Public Works Code Section 706 or other Municipal Codes that place sidewalk maintenance responsibility on fronting property owners, the Board of Supervisors may authorize the master street encroachment permittee or the permittee’s agent or assignee, such as a homeowners’ association, to comply with the terms of the Section 706 in lieu of the fronting property owner.
(c) All street encroachment permits are non-exclusive and revocable. As a condition of permit revocation, the permittee shall restore the public right-of-way to a condition satisfactory to the Public Works Director at the permittee’s sole and absolute expense.
(d) The Director, in his or her discretion, may recommend denial of a street encroachment permit application. The Director shall notify the applicant in writing of this recommendation. The Director shall hold an administrative hearing on his or her recommendation to deny the application and issue a written decision on the recommendation to deny within a reasonable period after the hearing. If the basis for the denial decision relates solely to engineering design, the Director’s denial decision constitutes a final decision that is not subject to appeal. If the basis for the denial decision is solely for reasons unrelated to engineering design, the applicant may appeal the Director’s denial decision to the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of the date of the Director’s written decision. The applicant’s appeal shall be filed in writing with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and accompanied with 1) a copy of the Director’s written decision, 2) checks in the amount of $635 for the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and $400 for Public Works to compensate the City for its cost related to the appeal, and 3) documentation that constitutes evidence to support the appeal. The Clerk shall conditionally accept an appeal subject to a determination that the appellant filed the appeal in a timely manner and the appeal complies with the requirements of this Section 786(d). The Clerk shall provide notice to the appellant of the conditional acceptance. Within seven working days of the filing of the appeal, the Clerk shall mail notice to the appellant and the Public Works Director of the acceptance or rejection of the appeal. The Clerk shall schedule a hearing on the appeal before the full Board of Supervisors no less than 15 and no more than 45 days from the appeal filing. The Clerk shall provide mailed notice of the appeal to the appellant, Public Works Director, and all organizations and individuals who previously requested notice in writing no less than 10 days prior to the date the appeal is scheduled for a Board of Supervisors hearing. The Board of Supervisors shall act by motion on a majority vote within 30 days of the date for the appeal hearing. However, the Board of Supervisors may postpone a decision if the Board does not conduct at least three regular Board meetings during such 30 days period. If such postponement occurs, the Board of Supervisors shall decide such appeal within 60 days of the date for the appeal hearing or at the next regularly scheduled Board meeting should such deadline fall within a Board recess. If the Board of Supervisors revokes the street encroachment permit, it shall adopt findings concerning the basis for revocation and the cost of any revocation and associated restoration. The Board also shall identify the responsible party that shall bear such revocation and restoration cost if it is a party other than the permittee. In addition, if the Board revokes the permit after a hearing initiated under subsection (e)(2)(B)(iv), the Board shall adopt findings concerning each of the grounds for revocation that the public revocation petition cites. Failure of the Board of Supervisors to act shall be deemed an approval of the Director’s decision. The Board of Supervisors decision on appeal is final and there is no appeal.
(e) (1) The Director, in his or her discretion, may recommend revocation of a street encroachment permit. The Director shall notify the permittee in writing of this recommendation. The Director shall hold an administrative hearing on the recommendation to revoke the permit and issue a written decision on the recommendation to revoke within a reasonable period after the hearing. Prior to the administrative hearing, the Director shall develop an estimate of the cost of any revocation and associated restoration and identify the responsible party that shall bear such cost if it is a party other than the permittee. The Director shall provide this cost estimate to the permit holder in advance of the administrative hearing and include the estimate in the hearing’s administrative record. The permittee may appeal the Director’s decision to revoke to the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of the date of the Director’s written decision. The appeal process shall be the same as specified in Section 786(d).
(2) (A) (i) The public may petition the Public Works Director to revoke a permit. Within 14 days of the receipt of the public revocation petition, the Director shall determine if the petition complies with the requirements of this subsection (e)(2) and notify the lead petitioner and permit holder of the Director’s decision to accept the petition and schedule an administrative hearing on a specific date or to deny the petition. The Director’s decision to accept or deny the petition constitutes a final decision that is not subject to appeal.
(ii) If the Director accepts the petition, the Director shall schedule an administrative hearing no earlier than 60 days and no later than 90 days after the date of petition acceptance in order to provide the permit holder with an opportunity to cure the problems associated with the permit as identified in the petition. At the administrative hearing, the Director shall provide the permit holder with an opportunity to present evidence that the permit holder has cured the problems identified in the petition.
(iii) Prior to any administrative hearing on the petition, the Director shall develop an estimate of the cost of any revocation and associated restoration and identify the responsible party that shall bear such cost if it is a party other than the permittee. The Director shall provide this cost estimate to the lead petitioner and the permit holder in advance of the administrative hearing and include the estimate in the hearing’s administrative record.
(B) (i) Within a reasonable period after the administrative hearing, the Director shall issue a written decision on the permittee’s cure, if any, and the public revocation petition and find, based on the public interest, that the Director will reject the petition, approve the petition, or initiate revocation of the permit on grounds other than those identified in the petition. The Director shall mail notice of this decision to the lead petitioner, the permit holder, and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
(ii) If the Director approves the revocation petition or initiates revocation of the permit on grounds other than those identified in the petition, the Director shall proceed with the permit revocation process as specified in subsection (e)(1), including scheduling a new administrative hearing on the Director’s revocation decision.
(iii) If the Director rejects the petition based solely on engineering design, the Director’s decision constitutes a final decision that is not subject to appeal and the petition is null and void. If the Director rejects the petition based solely on a determination that the permit holder has successfully cured the problems identified in the petition, the Director’s decision constitutes a final decision that is not subject to appeal and the petition is null and void.
(iv) If the Director’s decision to reject the petition is neither based solely on a determination of successful cure nor based solely on engineering design, then five members of the Board of Supervisors may subscribe to a notice of appeal to reverse the Director’s decision and revoke the permit. Said notice of appeal shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of the date of the Director’s written decision rejecting the petition.
(v) If the Director does not issue a final written decision resolving a petition filed under this subsection (e)(2) within 180 days of the filing of the petition, then five members of the Board of Supervisors may subscribe to a notice requesting an administrative hearing regarding the permit revocation at the Board of Supervisors. For purpose of this subsection (e)(2)(B)(v), a final written decision shall be a written decision that the petition does not comply with the requirements of this subsection (e)(2) or a written decision regarding the petition following an administrative hearing under subsection (e)(2)(B). The notice of appeal shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. The notice of appeal and the scheduling and conduct of the hearing shall be subject to the terms of subsection (e)(2)(C). Upon the filing of the notice of appeal, the Director shall be deemed to have rejected the petition, and the filing of the notice of appeal shall divest from the Director the authority to schedule and hold an administrative hearing and to issue a decision under this subsection (e). Prior to the Board of Supervisors’ hearing, at the request of the Clerk of the Board and within a time frame determined by the Clerk in the Clerk’s sole discretion, the Director shall provide to the Board, the lead petitioner, and the permit holder a report estimating the cost of any revocation and associated restoration and identifying the responsible party that shall bear such cost if it is a party other than the permittee. The Director’s failure to provide such a report shall not invalidate the Board of Supervisors’ hearing nor its decision.
(C) The signature of members of the Board on the notice of appeal shall not be deemed to be any indication of their position on the merits of the appeal but rather shall indicate only that they believe there is sufficient public interest and concern in the matter to warrant a hearing by the Board of Supervisors. The scheduling and conduct of the appeal hearing shall be the same as specified in Section 786(d) once the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors receives the notice of appeal from five members of the Board, except that the Clerk shall notify the lead petitioner identified under subsection (e)(2)(D) and the permit holder instead of notifying an appellant as there is no appellant.
(D) A valid public revocation petition for purposes of this subsection (e)(2) shall be a single petition subscribed by no less than 25 San Francisco residents from the Supervisorial district in which the street encroachment permit is located. Each signature on the petition shall be notarized and accompanied with the address of the petitioner. A petition is valid only if it includes documentary evidence of one or more of the following grounds for revocation of the street encroachment permit: (i) the permittee has failed to maintain the encroachment under the terms of the permit, (ii) the encroachment presents a significant health or safety hazard, or (iii) the encroachment creates severe and negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhood that cannot be mitigated. For any street encroachment permit issued prior to June 1, 2017, a valid petition shall include any of the evidence identified in this subsection (e)(2)(D)(i)-(iii) or evidence that revocation of the permit would serve a public purpose. The petition shall identify a lead petitioner for purposes of receiving mailed notice of any Director decisions related to the petition. No more than one petition for the subject street encroachment permit shall be submitted in a single year-long period and the signatures and notary statements for that petition shall be affixed no more than six months prior to the date of submission.
(f) Beginning with fiscal year 2018-2019, the appeal fees in Section 786(d) may be adjusted each year, without further action by the Board of Supervisors, to reflect changes in the relevant Consumer Price Index, as determined by the Controller. No later than April 15th of each year, the Director and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors shall submit the Department’s and Clerk’s current fee to the Controller, who shall apply the price index adjustment to produce a new fee for the following year. No later than May 15th of each year, the Controller shall file a report with the Board of Supervisors reporting the new fee and certifying that: (a) the fees produce sufficient revenue to support the costs of providing the services for which the fee is charged and (b) the fees do not produce revenue that exceeds the costs of providing the services for which each permit fee is charged. Notwithstanding the procedures set forth in this subsection (f), the Board of Supervisors, in its discretion, may modify the fees by ordinance at any time.
(g) For purposes of Sections 786 et seq., except as otherwise provided in this subsection (g), a street encroachment permit shall include, but is not limited to, an encroachment above and/or below ground that extends beyond the centerline of the public right-of-way, one or more encroachments that occupy the public right-of-way adjacent to more than one property owner and the applicant(s)/permittee(s) proposes it collectively as a single permit, an encroachment where the applicant/permittee is not the property owner adjacent to the encroachment, an encroachment that exceeds one or both of the occupation limits specified in Section 723.2 governing minor sidewalk encroachments or its successor Section, and any encroachment that the Director determines to have significant impacts to the public right-of-way. A Tier 1 or Tier 2 Love Our Neighborhoods Project, as defined in Section 723.1(b), shall not be required to obtain a street encroachment permit pursuant to Sections 786 et seq.
(h) If a street encroachment permit involves street reconstruction and occupancy of the majority of a through street segment or an intersection, the design shall provide for communication services as defined in Subdivision Code Section 1336 if the permittee is not providing such services as part the development of real property adjacent to the street encroachment permit. After the permittee provides such communication services, such services shall be excluded from the terms of the street encroachment permit and any associated agreements concerning the permit, and the permittee shall have no further responsibility in regard to such services. The Public Works Director is authorized to waive this requirement if the cost of providing such services is excessive in comparison to the cost of the street encroachment permit, the design of the street encroachment permit would be undermined by inclusion of the services, or for other reasons that the Director determines would adversely affect the permit or its design. This Subsection (g) shall not apply to a temporary street encroachment permit under Section 786.9.
(i) For purposes of Sections 786 et seq., “engineering design” shall mean professional engineering work as set forth in the Professional Engineers Act, California Business and Professions Code Sections 6700 et seq.
(j) The Director, after a public hearing, may adopt such orders, policies, regulations, rules, or standard plans and specifications in regard to street encroachment permits and applications as he or she deems necessary to preserve and maintain the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience. Such orders, policies, regulations, rules, or standard plans and specifications may include, but are not limited to, permit application materials, implementation and annexation procedures for master major encroachment permits, standards for establishing annual maintenance costs for encroachments, site conditions, and accessibility of sidewalks and streets.