SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – With more than 1,200 parklets in San Francisco, there are people drawing attention to the city’s guidelines on outdoor spaces.

On Thursday, their concerns were heard. Mayor Breed announced a nine-month extension for bars and restaurants needing to make changes.

Restaurant and bar owners were happy this summer when the city made shared spaces permanent but they weren’t thrilled to have until June of next year to comply with new guidelines.

“This is exactly what we asked for and exactly what we needed,” Ben Bleiman, with the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, said.

Restaurant and bar owners are breathing a sigh of relief with their parklets. Founder of the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, Ben Bleiman, says his 500 members were starting to panic with the notices they were getting from public works and fire safety.

“You know you have 14 days to fix this, or we’re going to start fining you $250 the first day, $500 the second day. Like really scary stuff,” Bleiman said. 

Two major requirements: Parklets must be moved three feet from parking hashtags and away from the corners of intersections.

Mayor London Breed announced legislation Thursday that will extend the deadline owners have to make changes to their shared spaces from June of 2022 to March of 2023.

Executive Director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, Laurie Thomas, says it’s a nine-month extension that was needed with so many COVID unknowns.

“Let’s just get some more time here. We have Omicron, we have supply chain issues. We have a lot of different rules and regulations,” Thomas said.

Mayor Breed says that city inspectors will only provide notices of correction to businesses whose shared spaces pose a severe safety or accessibility issue.

Her nine-month extension gives the majority more time for the possibility of re-construction and $2,500 grants to those needing help paying for it.

“We know that the downtown area is still much slower than we would like to see it and we want to help all of our businesses recover and do it safely,” Thomas said. 

Giving the public an outdoor, COVID-safe option.

“A  lot of people who still don’t want to go indoors still right and having these parklets is really, really important to being able to serve outdoors and continue our business,” Bleiman said. 

Mayor Breed’s ordinance will need an approval vote from the Board of Supervisors, but the majority of the supervisors have shown support for the extension in the past.