SF Board of Supervisors permits additional annual concerts in Golden Gate Park's Polo Fields
Fans attend at Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Aug. 7, 2022. (Alive Coverage/Outside Lands via Bay City News)
SAN FRANCISCO - On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to authorize a permit for ticketed concerts at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park on the weekend following the popular Outside Lands Festival in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Outside Lands Festival infrastructure will be dismantled and removed from the park, but the performance stage will remain for another weekend of concerts held by Another Planet Entertainment LLC.
With all board members present, the only no vote came from Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the city's Richmond District that is along the park's northern border and includes a main access road to the concerts.
"I do recognize the benefits of these concerts bringing to our overall city budget and the vitality additional concerts would bring to our downtown areas," said Chan, who was the only speaker among supervisors or members of the public when the measure came to a vote and said why she nevertheless opposed the plans.
She read a list of complaints from her constituents that included residential parking availability, north-south road access, noise and crowd nuisances, including vandalism, and impact on wildlife habitat. "Those are real concerns for Richmond," Chan said. "They're probably very, very different from your constituents and how they view these concerts."
The agreement requires the concert vendor to maintain measures to lessen noise and traffic impacts, including a community hotline for neighbors, parking control officers directing traffic and enforcing parking laws, shuttles to and from the event and a dedicated rideshare zone.
"Although there have been some mitigations for the impact on our neighborhoods," Chan said, "let's also be honest that these came as a result of years of complaints and the efforts of my predecessors in order to get them in place."
In exchange for the concert permit, Another Planet will pay the city a minimum permit fee of $1.4 million per year for a two-day event or $2.1 million for a three-day event for a three-year term to commence in 2024. They will also commit to holding three free musical concerts per year for each of the three years. The funds will go the city's Recreation and Park Department.
In a press statement, Mayor London Breed said, "This is great news for San Francisco, which has long been a destination for music, festivals and entertainment."
Another Planet will also increase its community benefit funding to the Sunset and Richmond districts most affected by the concerts, adding another $10,000 a year per district for neighborhood-specific projects. That is on top the current amount of $25,000 for Outside Lands.
The measure was supported by Supervisor Joel Engardio, who represents the Sunset neighborhoods.
"It will be exciting to find out who is headlining those shows," Engardio said.
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