First wave of fixes to S.F. permitting red tape would help bars and nightclubs

San Francisco Chronicle​

12-05-2025

Mayor Daniel Lurie floated the first reforms in his promised overhaul of San Francisco's famously convoluted permitting process on Monday, proposing to cut red tape for bar and nightclub owners looking to extend hours or offer live music.
Speaking at the annual Nightlife and Entertainment Summit, Lurie told a room full of nightclub owners and impresarios that the reforms would make 'permitting faster, more predictable and more transparent.'
Lurie said he plans to introduce legislation next week that would eliminate the need for Planning Department approvals for two types of permits: limited live performance and fixed-place amplified sound. About 60 of these types of permits were sent to the Planning Department during the last fiscal year, which cost about $12,000.
In addition, businesses will no longer need the Department of Building Inspection approval for permits for entertainment and extended hours. The changes will shave 30 days from the approval process.
'You are the visionaries and operators who help this city shine after dark,' said Lurie.
'Our job at City Hall and in government is to create the conditions for your success. We want people off the couches, and I want them in your bars and on your dance floors.'
The modest changes are the start of an initiative Lurie is calling PermitSF, which the mayor has promised will speed up approval for housing and small businesses and improve permit tracking technology. Lurie also vowed to implement a 'shot clock' that would limit the amount of time that the city can review permits, potentially ending instances where applications languish for months or years.
'We are going to be cutting red tape by ensuring that entertainment permits only go to the departments that actually need to review them,' said Lurie. 'That means no unnecessary reviews from planning or building inspection when they are not relevant.'
In mid-February, Lurie said the reforms would be introduced within 100 days.
While the streamlining would only cut a few of the dozens of bureaucratic sign-offs bar and nightclub owners have to deal with, business owners at the entertainment summit applauded the proposed changes.
David Kiely, who owns Mars Bar in SoMa, said making it easier and faster to obtain permits 'is tantamount to our economic survival.' He said Mars Bar is currently trying to extend its hours and get special entertainment permits.
'It's what we need,' said Kiely. 'Anything we can do that is going to draw people to come in and have events is only going to help us.'
Entertainment Commission President Ben Bleiman said at the summit that the city's permitting process for bars and nightclubs is 'a hodgepodge of rules overlapped on one another.' The regulations change from neighborhood to neighborhood, often driven by complaints from residents.
'There was no vision or forward thinking on how these things were put together,' he said. 'These things are extremely frustrating for us and more importantly, frustrating for our faith in our government. If we don't believe our government works, everything falls apart.'