[BATN] SF sidewalk encroachment fee penalizes landscaping, trees Date: 25 Jan 2006 19:46:38 -0800 Published Wednesday, January 25, 2006, in the San Francisco Examiner Sidewalk work brings S.F. residents heavy fines Alioto-Pier: Fining citizens "doesn't make sense" By Justin Jouvenal When Mellie Malcolmsen spent $3,000 installing a hand railing on a steep city sidewalk in front of her Russian Hill home she thought she was doing a public good -- tourists, elderly neighbors and her own frail husband used it to get up and down the Filbert Street hill. That's why the 74-year old was shocked when she received a letter from the Department of Public Works in January saying she would owe a $1,200 annual fee charged for poles, planters, ramps and other private items that encroach on public sidewalks. The fee, which went into effect in August, was intended to compensate The City when property owners want to appropriate sidewalks for personal or commercial uses, but it has also snared people that are looking to better neighborhoods by repaving sidewalks or putting out street landscaping in planting boxes. The City has sent out 680 letters so far and plans to send out more in the coming months. City residents could face tens of thousands of dollars in fees. Malcolmsen, whose husband recently had a stroke, said she won't be able to pay the bill and may have to rip out the railing -- at her own expense. "It seems I should be assessing The City for putting in the railing, not the other way around," said Malcolmsen, who got the proper city permits to install the railing. The Department of Public Works has received dozens of complaints about the new ordinance, said Christine Falvey, a DPW spokeswoman. She said DPW is required to enforce the ordinance on everyone who violates it, even if encroachment benefits The City. Under the ordinance, property owners must obtain an annual encroachment permit at $3 a square foot from DPW for items -- from handicapped ramps to awnings -- that are located on public sidewalks. Falvey said the average fee is roughly $200 a property owner. Nyla P. Moore, who lives on Steiner Street in Russian Hill, said she was hit with a $1,125 annual fee after she repaved the tree-root-cracked sidewalk in front of her building. The sidewalk repaving is considered an encroachment because it slants too steeply from her house to the street to meet city code -- something Moore has no control over. "I felt I was a good citizen to do what I did, it just seemed to be very unfair," Moore said. Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier introduced an ordinance Tuesday to repeal the fee for sidewalk encroachments. The legislation also requires the DPW to create a report on the type and number of sidewalk encroachment permits, so supervisors have information to determine if the encroachment ordinance should be modified. "Charging for taking over part of the public sidewalk for commercial purposes is totally appropriate, but charging someone hundreds of dollars a year because they want to make the street more beautiful with a tree or a planter box, or repair the sidewalk, just doesn't make sense," Alioto-Pier said. E-mail: jjouvenal@examiner.com Email article texts/URLs for posting to . Manage your subscription by sending a blank email message to: BATN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe, BATN-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com to unsubscribe, BATN-digest@yahoogroups.com to switch email to digest mode, BATN-normal@yahoogroups.com to switch email to normal mode, BATN-nomail@yahoogroups.com to switch email delivery off. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN for web access & archives.