Trash talk at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
San Francisco will begin audits every three years of buildings that generate a large amount of waste to determine whether they properly separate refuse, the Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday.
If the properties — they range from restaurants to City Hall — fail the audit, some will be forced to hire a full-time trash sorter to separate waste, compost and recyclables at about $20 an hour, plus benefits. Properties fall under the ordinance, which was sponsored by Supervisors Ahsha Safaí and passed unanimously, if they generate 40 cubic yards or more of refuse per week. The law takes effect next year.
The city identified more than 400 buildings that fall under the ordinance. But just because the properties are on the list doesn’t mean they are out of accordance with the law.
If large refuse generators with limited revenue — such as affordable housing projects or food pantries — fail an audit, they may apply for financial hardship to possibly become exempt from having to hire a full-time trash sorter, Safai said. Such properties will also not be subject to audit until July 1, 2021.
All other properties in the city will be subject to an audit after July 1, 2019.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
The Office of Cannabis will be able to initially approve only four permits per each new cannabis retail applicant, under an ordinance unanimously approved by the board.
The point of initially limiting the amount of new retail permits to four — a provision proposed by Supervisor Aaron Peskin — is to help level the playing field in the new industry by ensuring it’s not dominated by one major business, but instead open to a diverse set of retailers. Any more than four applications from one retailer will be put on hold until the office considers other applicants.
Even though the ordinance was passed by the board, the legislation will likely be revisited by the supervisors in the new year, after Supervisor Norman Yee pointed out that the current language allows existing retailers to apply for four additional permits, which would give existing retailers an advantage over new businesses looking to enter the market.
Restaurants that can’t operate during mandatory seismic retrofits may now have an easier time applying for a permit to create a mobile caterer — such as a food truck or a pushcart — under an ordinance unanimously approved by the board.
Mobile caterers are currently subject to a number of restrictions, such as limitations on being able to operate within a certain radius of public schools and existing restaurants. This ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, will make the regular notice and hearing procedures more lenient for certain restaurants undergoing seismic retrofitting.
San Francisco is now the first major U.S. city to remove minimum parking requirements for new developments, said District Six Supervisor Jane Kim, who sponsored the ordinance. The legislation passed 6-4, with Supervisors Malia Cohen, Safai, Catherine Stefani and Yee in the dissent.
Cohen was strongly against the ordinance, saying some constituents in Bayview-Hunters Point rely on their vehicles to get around in the absence of adequate public transportation options. The ordinance will be sent back to the committee to decide whether certain districts — such as Cohen’s District 10 — can be exempt.