What’s a parklet worth? That’s the question for Joe’s Ice Cream on Geary Boulevard. Joe’s owners Alice and Sean Kim built their parklet last summer, and they love it.
But the 63-year-old Richmond district fixture, which serves up scoops along with bulgogi burgers and gochujang fries, could soon have a big, expensive decision to make about its colorful parklet, an outdoor dining area built over two street parking spots.
San Francisco made the emergency program known as Shared Spaces permanent last year, after it buoyed more than 1,700 restaurants and businesses through two years of loss and anxiety while indoor dining and shopping was shut down.
But with permanence comes more regulation. In November, SF released a packet of rules and unveiled higher permit costs. Alice Kim says she spent $25,000 on the Joe’s parklet, but at a recent community meeting on the Geary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, her husband heard that the upcoming project would force a complete rebuild of their al fresco nook.
SFMTA, the city’s streets and transit agency, referred The Frisc’s questions to Shared Spaces director Robin Abad, who confirmed that the bus project will affect parklets on Geary between Stanyan Street and 23rd Avenue. “Parklets are meant to be reversible interventions that can iterate over the years as we improve public services in and through our city streets,” Abad added. “We hope that everyone will make investment decisions accordingly.”
The legislation specifies that street projects take priority over parklets. Golden Gate Restaurant Association executive director and parklet advocate Laurie Thomas, who has fought for more subsidies and clearer rules, acknowledges that these spaces are potentially tenuous. “None of this is permanent,” she says.
The new rules, which include codes for fire safety and disability access, were supposed to kick in on July 1 — with fines for noncompliant parklets — but it’s possible they’ll be delayed until Apr. 1, 2023. (The supervisors will discuss it next week.)
[UPDATE: The supervisors voted on Mar. 15 for the delay.]
A delay would be good news for the Kims, who are worried they might have to make changes right away to meet the new codes, and then do it all over again when BRT construction begins. Their contractor says it would take $15,000 to reassemble the current parklet into a new shape. Their stretch of Geary, which currently has angled parking, will have parallel spaces after the bus renovation, and Joe’s parklet will have to change shape to fit.
A little more help?
With all the uncertainty, Thomas thinks the city’s current subsidies — grants of up to $2,500 that owners could apply for last month — aren’t enough for businesses running on thin margins. She has been lobbying SF’s Office of Small Business to add more money for parklet modifications to the 2023 budget.
For businesses forced to alter parklets because of big street projects, like the Geary BRT or sewer upgrades, Abad says there’s a different source of assistance: mitigation funds tied to the construction project itself. “So in the future, that’s likely where any support may come from for the parklet sponsors,” Abad says.
It would be welcome support for folks who have already invested tens of thousands of dollars in labor and materials. The Kims would have spent even more, but landscape designer Alec Hawley, who designed several pandemic parklets in the Richmond, planned the Joe’s space pro bono.
Joe’s Ice Cream parklet has hosted comic book pop-ups, graduation ceremonies, and fundraisers for neighborhood schools. Alice Kim never wants to go back to 100% indoors.
“I think there’s a lack of understanding of the amount of investment required to make one of these, and then to modify it,” Hawley says. “In most cases, modification of a parklet really means a complete rebuild. I think that’s where you could see people choosing not to reinvest.”
When the city first unveiled the new parklet rules last fall, there was plenty of grumbling about their length — 60 pages — as well as the lack of coordination between city departments and the threat of fines. But the required modifications are based on safety and equitable access, not bureaucracy.
For example, parklets will have to be at least 20 feet from approaching intersections to ensure they don’t block drivers’ view of pedestrians and other traffic. Parklets with roofs can’t use heat lamps, and decks must be flat to give folks in wheelchairs room to sit.
It’s good to know
The final guidance is helpful to business owners who can now apply for parklet permits and know the rules. On Mission Street, just south of the 280 freeway, owner Lea Sabado of Excelsior Coffee has been without a parklet throughout the pandemic. She applied but was rejected because her café’s frontage is occupied by a bus stop. She has applied again for a different spot down the block, and is hopeful that her permit will come through by the end of the month.
Sabado said that having her initial application denied means she can avoid mistakes she’d have to fix in the future. But it’s still expensive.
“I’m hoping it’s less than $40,000,” Sabado says, tallying up the costs: permitting, architect fees, lumber, a fabricator. “But the cost doesn’t end there for me.” In addition to the annual license of $2,000 per parking space, there’s also potentially an increased Recology bill if parklet users leave non-café trash for Sabado to throw away.
The benefit, according to Sabado, who owns the café with her husband, is not only extra seating but also a more vibrant block. She wants her shared space to be truly shared — by the donut shop next door, folks waiting for the bus, the Mission Science Workshop, even a nearby Mexican restaurant that could seat dinner customers in the parklet. The extra responsibility of maintaining the parklet, Sabado says, is worth it for “neighborhood camaraderie, neighborhood investment.”
Maribel Ramirez, executive director of the nonprofit Excelsior Action Group, has been helping Sabado navigate the permit process, which she says is causing confusion for others in the neighborhood.
“Because of the changing dates, I think a lot of our businesses are just not dealing with it right now,” Ramirez notes, and worries that fines for noncompliance could also discourage owners from keeping their parklets.
Another potential deterrent is the challenge of keeping parklets clean. One block from Excelsior Coffee is neighborhood bar Recovery Room, where Ramirez says the owner has regularly had to clean up trash and human waste in his parklet.
Even so, Ramirez wants parklets to become a long-lasting feature of the Excelsior, not just for restaurant and bar patrons but for everyone. “I would love to see more public seating in general,” she adds.
Hawley agrees. As he sees it, parklets are just one step toward a broader reimagining of San Francisco’s street space, and his ideal future city includes more non-commercial use of the parking lane.
“My key interest as this moves forward is seeing parklets not only as dining space but as community space,” he says. “If half of the city doesn’t drive or own a car, and 90 percent of the curb space is allotted to private vehicle storage, there’s something wrong.” (The DMV estimated in 2019 that there were about 492,000 registered vehicles in San Francisco.)
Joe’s Ice Cream has already hosted a range of events in the parklet Hawley designed, including comic book pop-ups, graduation ceremonies, and fundraisers for neighborhood schools like Alamo Elementary and St. Monica’s. One couple even contacted the Kims about shooting their wedding photos there. Alice Kim says she’s done more with the parklet than she ever imagined, and never wants to go back to 100 percent capacity indoors.
Even without the lure of special events, Thomas of the restaurant association is confident that the pandemic has changed SF’s expectations, and customer demand will make parklets worthwhile: “We’ve trained people to eat outside,” she says. “People love eating outside.”