UPDATE: San Francisco Accessible Business Entrance Program - Open House on December 3, 2018

UPDATE: November 27, 2018

Join the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection (SFDBI) and partnering City agencies for an open house on the Accessible Business Entrance Program (ABE).

Date:  Monday, December 3, 2018 - 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Location:  1660 Mission Street, Room 2001

Additional information link: http://www.sfdbi.org/businessentrance

Sign-up for the ABE Open House here

During the open house, you will be able to:

• Watch a brief presentation on how to complete the Pre-Screening, Waiver and Category Compliance Checklist forms.
• Speak with Planning, Public Works, Small Business and DBI representatives.
• Learn about the steps to take to file a Technical Infeasibility or Unreasonable Hardship.

About the ABE

The ABE program requires property owners of commercial storefront(s) to make their primary entrance(s) compliant and accessible to people with disabilities.

The ABE helps property owners better comply with existing state and federal disability access laws.

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Original Post - July 25, 2018

The Accessible Business Entrance program helps property owners comply with state and federal accessibility laws and helps people with disabilities gain greater access to goods and services offered by businesses in San Francisco. Passed by the Board of Supervisors in 2016 (Ordinance No. 51-16), the ordinance requires that existing buildings with a place of public accommodation have all primary entrances accessible for people with disabilities.

Under state and federal law, a place of public accommodation is generally a business where the public will enter a building to obtain goods and services, such as banks, day care centers, hotels, offices, restaurants, retail stores, et cetera.

The following changes to the measure are now effective as of June 1, 2018. 

• Extend all compliance deadlines by six-months resulting in the first deadline of January 1, 2019.
• Eliminate the administrative fee of $97.
• Require property owners to provide a 30-day notice to building tenants prior to filing the permit application.
• Qualify buildings under Category 1, if any of the following descriptions apply:
• building owners mandated to meet earthquake retrofit electing to comply with this ordinance’s requirements prior to this Program’s compliance deadlines.
• building owners fi ling a permit application on or after the effective date of this ordinance to alter a building or a portion thereof was altered, or is proposed to be altered, with the owner electing to comply with this ordinance’s requirements prior to this Program’s compliance deadlines.

 For more information, please visit www.sfdbi.org/businessentrance.

BOMA International Advocacy Update: Upcoming Webinar on November 9th - Reviewing ENERGY STAR Changes - A Conversation with Commercial Real Estate

As you may know, the new 1-to-100 ENERGY STAR® building scores are live in Portfolio Manager® and BOMA International is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it undertakes a review of the update and solicits feedback. 

This Friday, November 9, from 1-3pm Eastern, ENERGY STAR will hold a special webinar, Reviewing ENERGY STAR Changes: A Conversation with Commercial Real Estate, co-hosted by BOMA International and NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

Register today to learn the latest details on the score changes and take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback directly to ENERGY STAR.

And special thanks to the many members who responded to the recent BOMA survey related to the new building scores. The survey results, combined with this webinar, will be instrumental in identifying any broad trends and determining whether the new scores, which are based on the latest market data from the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), are working as intended.

Further information on the score updates can be found on the ENERGY STAR website.