OAKLAND — The popular Scott’s Seafood Restaurant in Jack London Square is fighting an $841,000 environmental fine in a case that has fanned debate about public access to the San Francisco Bay shoreline.

Representatives of Scott’s Seafood Restaurant accuse the staff of the San Francisco Bay Development Commission of being overzealous for proposing such a high fine in response to additions to an outdoor pavilion the restaurant uses for parties, weddings, fundraisers and other events.

Canvas walls were replaced with retractable metal walls; a metal door and storage unit was was added, and a roof was extended without a commission permit.

“This penalty is way out of line,” said Michael Verna, an attorney representing Scott’s. “They did not put pollute the bay. They did not harm wildlife. This is bureaucracy run amok. This is crazy.”

Previously, the largest penalty the commission has ever issued for something not involving harm to water, fish or wetlands was $40,000, Verna said.

But some critics says a big fine is warranted for a restaurant that decreased public access to the bay by making unauthorized changes to the pavilion. The restaurant also held many more private events a year than permitted, the commission concluded.

“Access to the San Francisco Bay Shoreline is a right to be enjoyed by all the public, and the restaurant diminished it,” said David Lewis, executive director of the Save San Francisco Bay. “It would send the wrong message to the Bay Area if there were not serious penalties for these egregious violations.”

In a report Friday, the commission staff recommended the penalty be adopted by the full 27-member commission. A commission committee is scheduled to consider the penalty Feb. 16.

The Bay Commission was created in the 1960s to stop widespread filling of the bay, and to encourage public access to the shoreline. Only about six miles were accessible in the 1960s. But that number has grown to more than 300 miles with the addition of shoreline trails, parks, and permits requiring waterfront businesses to provide access near them.

Scott’s secured a commission permit in 1997 to establish an adjacent pavilion with canvas walls for holding a maximum of 73 public events a year. The walls were to be removed other days and chairs provided, enabling the public to relax, smell the seawater, and view the boats and ships coming in and out of the Oakland Estuary.

But Scott’s modified the pavilion in 2013 without commission permits, and it also held more than 73 events a year for several years, commission staffers wrote in an administrative complaint in December. Scott’s also parked promotional cars and stored equipment in the public open space, and failed to put chairs as called for.

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“Scott’s effectively annexed a public open space,” said Keith Miller, the owner of a neighboring California Canoe and Kayak. “I’m not against the pavilion, but the restaurant owner didn’t play by the rules, and it means the public has less access to the shoreline”

While people can walk around the pavilion and squeeze through to reach the waterfront, the tight fit discourages public use of the waterfront, he said. When the pavilion walls are up, views of the scenic waterfront are blocked, Miller added.

Verna, the restaurant attorney, said Scott’s owner Ray Gallagher replaced the canvas walls with retractable metal ones to save time; it took one day it to raise the walls and another to remove them.

That improvement, Verna said, means the pavilion is available for public use more often.

Verna said paying such a large fine would force the restaurant to lay off workers and could force it to close the pavilion, which can accommodate 350 people seated and 600 standing.

“Scott’s has brought people to the bay for years,” he said. “It’s been an anchor to Jack London Square.”

Ygnacio De La Fuente, a former Oakland city councilman, said Scott’s should get some credit because many of the pavilion events benefit nonprofit groups. And Scott’s, he said, often waives pavilion rental fees for those charities.

“They are one of the few restaurants that will donate the venue for charitable events to benefit the community,” he said.

As a nonpaid mediator, De La Fuente helped secure a tentative settlement between the commission staff and Scott’s for the restaurant to pay a $250,000 fine and be granted permission to hold more events in the pavilion.

The commission’s enforcement committee approved the deal, but the commission in November rejected it after critics said $250,000 was too small a penalty and objected to more events in the pavilion.

Verna said the proposed $841,000 penalty is unfair in part because it includes amounts for allegations years ago such as not putting out chairs and tables for the public to use when there were no events at the pavilion.

“The commission knew of these issues for years,” Verna said, “and did nothing about it.”

To view information about the Scott’s penalty, visit http://bit.ly/2kbvGDV on the commission site.