Popular Oakland seafood restaurant fined $395k for environmental violations

Restaurant personnel prepare the banquet pavilion before a fundraising luncheon for Oakland Military Institute charter school at Scott's Seafood Restaurant in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, February 9, 2017. The restaurant's owner, Ray Gallagher, has been fined $395,000 by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission for having erected the pavilion in which the luncheon was held. less Restaurant personnel prepare the banquet pavilion before a fundraising luncheon for Oakland Military Institute charter school at Scott's Seafood Restaurant in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, February 9, 2017. The ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Popular Oakland seafood restaurant fined $395k for environmental violations 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

The waterfront Scott's Seafood Restaurant must pay $395,000 in fines for limiting public access to the shoreline and holding an unauthorized number of private events. A regional commission approved the fine by an 18-0 vote on Thursday.

Perched on the waterfront of Jack London Square, the restaurant modified its pavilion without permits and held an extensive number of unauthorized private events in the pavilion. The SF Bay Conservation and Development Commission said Scott's continually violated agency rules regarding public access to the shoreline.

Last December, the Bay Commission proposed a penalty of $841,100 for the violations, which occurred over a 12-year period.

“This penalty is way out of line,” Michael Verna, an attorney representing Scott’s, told the East Bay Times in December. “This is bureaucracy run amok. This is crazy.”

A commission subcommittee later recommended cutting the penalty to $395,000, and said the fine would be reduced by an additional 15 percent if Scott's quickly modifies the pavilion to meet agency standards.

Founded in 1960, the Bay Commission is the world's first coastal protection agency, says a statement on its website. It was created to stop the filling of the San Francisco Bay and to encourage shoreline access.

The commission granted Scott's a permit in 1996 to build a 4,400-square-foot open-air pavilion, with detachable fabric panels for private events, within the public open space at Jack London Square. The permit stipulated that the pavilion must be open to the public 80 percent of the time, while the remaining 20 percent is allocated to hosting private events.

According to the San Francisco Business Times, neighbors have complained that Scott's made access to the shoreline so narrow, it discouraged many from accessing the water and blocked views of the estuary.

In 2011, the commission says Scott's swapped the fabric pavilion walls with retractable metal walls and added a storage unit, door and roof without obtaining a permit.

Scott's Seafood opened its first storefront on Lombard Street in 1976 before expanding to Jack London Square and Walnut Creek.

Liz Gallagher, a Scott's executive, told the East Bay Times that she will ask the commission to increase the current limit of pavilion events to no more than 73 days a year in order to accommodate the many event requests from community and nonprofit organizations.

Read Michelle Robertson’s latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.