tv [untitled] December 15, 2010 5:30pm-6:00pm PST
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jurisdiction, would this normally caused a permit to be suspended? >> no. if there is a request, we do not suspend the permit. we do not suspended -- suspended. that means all construction activity, it is allowed to take place during that period. vice president goh: -- commissioner garcia: the hearing itself was on the 30th. is this important in terms of a suspension should have been issued? >> >> the hearing on the 30 it was for the jurisdiction request.
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vice president goh: commissioner garcia: -- at that time, it was already issued? i thank you for your time. >> now, we can take public comment. president peterson: you have three minutes. >> my name is -- i have been before you before for the same issue. i was not aware of what the issues were, or i would of been able to bring pictures. i did take pictures as it was going on and actually talked to people, and at the time i did that, i did not see anything in the window that said they had a permit. i can get those pictures and get them to you, but i was not aware that was at issue. that is pretty much all i can
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say. >> next speaker. >> my name is -- i am the resident manager, and i work with sean morgan, and all i can say is that there was construction started earlier than she said. we were talking on a daily basis, and she had mentioned -- i am resident manager of one of the buildings. president peterson: ok, then i think you are not able to speak it you are affiliated with the appellant. are you employed by the appellant? ok. i am sorry to interrupt. go ahead. >> ok, anyway, the day that
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she'd since the initial yield that was used as an exhibit in her case, i had actually been over there, and we had been talking, and i had actually seen that work had started inside of the location, so for them to, whoever, to say that there is nothing going on there is completely false. i am sorry they spend so much money. they could have stopped at any time, including the money they used to buy out the heads of community boards when they thought this was just going to be based on community support. if they have spent more money than they wanted to, that is entirely their problem. they could have stopped at any time. commissioner hwang: what what did you witness being done? >> al she said, we went over and saw the initial counter wall in
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place. the counter wall that she pointed out in her exhibit. commissioner hwang: ok, do you know how long that had been up? >> i did not make a habit of looking in there, but when she noticed it that day, when she said the email, we were discussing it and how to look at it, and it was there. commissioner hwang: thank you. >> is there any other public comment? seeing none, commissioners, the matter is before you. >> it seems additional evidence has been taken, so i should have the opportunity. president peterson: that is correct. thank you.
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vice president goh: well, in regards to whether there was work done before, i have found that we have heard credible evidence tonight as well as in the submissions that we received in preparation for today. i am not sure if it makes sense to go ahead and suggest changes to the findings now or if we should hear from the other commissioners as to whether others would like a revoke or not -- a revote or not. and i think that the project sponsors admission that there was removal of fixtures, and i know from other cases that i have worked on that these kinds of plumbing fixtures do require
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a permit, that that is a concession. i think that is probably enough, but even setting that aside, we have heard credible evidence here tonight. commissioner hwang: i think we are supposed to hear from everybody first, and then we will address. president peterson: i just want to say that i think this is unusual that we are taking in additional evidence, and this was at the request of the permit holder. anybody have other comments? commissioner fung: i have some general comments. the decision made by this board was predicated on a wide range of issues, not just the issue of when construction started.
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in fact, not all of the findings are equal or pertinent in the decision that i made, and i find that the decision should be made on the entire issues that we had discussed and not on that one specific technicality. and therefore, the question of whether these findings reflect the decision making process occurred, i find that it does. i find that it does.
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commissioner garcia: in paragraph 5, it seems there is a case being billed for work done without a permit, and then somehow, it becomes therefore the permit was issued. error -- was issued in error, and it is not a valid permit, and i do not follow that logic. if someone does work before a permit, then they should be cited and fined, but i do not know what bearing that would have on a permit that is issued and decide retrospectively that it was illegal because some work had been done. i do not get that connection. i do not see where that is valid. they should be required to get a permit, which a permit
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ultimately does to legalize the work that they had done. i'm not trying to build a case before them -- a case for them, but i am point about problems with that language, and i also a lot of problems with number four. i do not know the affected had on anyone's decision, and i certainly would not be the person to suggest that. and if someone is interested, i will raise the points that i have before, in the event that it might have some effect on what they ultimately do, and the sentence that starts off that dbi was not aware, they have refrained in issuing it, well,
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we know from the question that was passed a of mr.kornfield that that is not the case. it would have had no effect whatsoever on sfc -- cfc. it would not have prevented them from getting it, so i am uncomfortable with that language. commissioner hwang: i am convinced that i will change my vote. one of the issues which the permit holder is that i found some credibility issues, and even in the papers set forth, cancel -- council's recollection does not go with mine.
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i found a listing of complaints, all of them after the date, and all of that leads me to believe there was good faith, and i would be willing to change my vote. i do not know how that impacts the ultimate decision, but on balance, i think the weight of the evidence does speak in favor of the permit holder. sorry to interrupt. >> what was the prior vote? commissioner fung: initially, -- 4-1. commissioner garcia: initially, it was 3-1, the tissue were
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absent, and then you voted. -- and you were absent. commissioner fung: if that is the case, then i think somebody should make a motion. commissioner hwang: i do not believe that the evidence is appear sufficient base the we saw. commissioner fung: we have no re-hearing request. vice president goh: we could
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continue yet again and ask evidence. for example, the public speake'' s photographs, and if we're going to do that, i want the date on the other photographs, as well. that is the possibility. commissioner hwang: furthermore, i take issue. there is no opportunity to cross, no opportunity to understand fully what was stated in the declaration, when we have an opportunity here to do this, so i think a re-hearing is what i would vote for. >> i think the real term would- be "re-opening." commissioner garcia: there are
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the objections i raised having to deal with paragraph four. even if they had done work before, they actually got the permit, i do not see the that is ever been a standard for denying or overturning a permit. they should then be required to either pay a fine and/or try to legalize it and come forward with some case in which they applied for a permit to legalize. they did not apply for a permit to legalize. the permit that is before us was to object to a project for which a cfc had been granted, so even if we had ample evidence in my opinion that they had done work before, i do not see, as was said by commissioner fung, if there are other standards for
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denying this, having to do with community standards, then we should base it on that. i would move for a we votere- vote -- i would move for a re- vote. i will leave that alone before we take a vote, and maybe i will make those comments. commissioner hwang: i just wanted to follow-up on what you were saying, commissioner garcia, on item four. and i could be misunderstanding what you're saying here, but it seems that the critical issue here is number five, and i think that is where the interplay is. the issuance of the csc.
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the underlying permit is evidence that is sufficient, and i find the prior evidence sufficient. at the same time, i heard no testimony today that additional evidence is out there that could counter some of the declarations in the appellants evidence, -- appellants' evidence, so i think this was an improper issuance -- improper work done without a permit, and this is where number four comes into play. mrs. tavis can be reconciled. -- maybe that can be reconciled.
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commissioner garcia: the permit does not ask to legalize what is done, and therefore, cfc could not have -- that is more reasonable to me, as the question was asked by vice president goh about the moving of the sink and toilet, i think it has been stipulated that they did that, prior to getting the permit. you do not have 30 seconds or one second unless the president
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wants you to comment on it. i am onboard for changing the findings or on board for whatever. if i am the one he made the motion to reopen, i mean to vote, because i would withdraw that. i thought maybe you had done that. commissioner fung: can you restate that? commissioner hwang: if we can narrow the issue, that be more efficient. my focus is whether or not there was a valid permit. and this goes to work being done prior.
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vice president goh: if we went ahead and voted and went ahead and voted tonight, i am not sure if that means that commissioner garcia would change his vote in vote to overturn or not, because now we have in different than the last time we voted with president peterson, so i think there are concessions that they
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remove the fixtures. we probably have enough if we change some of the language in the findings. >> my order of preference would be -- commissioner garcia: my order of preference would-be -- would be, at this point, i am not really ready to change my vote, and i think the appellate or the permit holder still has a right to ask for a rehearing, and my only change would be the sentence would start that dbi was not aware, through to the point where i will read what i think should be stricken. dbi was not aware at the time is issued thecfc, and they have
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well refrained from issuing it. had dbi been aware that this was subject to a jurisdictional requests before the board, i would also want to strike the language about unique circumstances under which it was issued in error. this does not deprive the board of jurisdiction over the permit, and the memory of our hearing had much more to do with six rather than whether or not work had taken place ahead of time, but it does lead to the logic that this was an improperly granted a permit and therefore an improperly granted cfc, which i imagine has some bearing. vice president goh: i did not break down your changes. commissioner garcia: it starts
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about four or five lines down, on every war that dbi was not aware, and mostly that is i want to what i was stricken, that one sentence. >> commissioners? commissioner fung: i am ebel perturbed in the low bothered by the approach we are taking. a vote had been taken and reviewed twice. we have allowed no introduction of new evidence. the decision making appears to be mixed.
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therefore, if you are intending to look of these things in light of acceptance of both new evidence in changes to the findings as to what created those decisions, then i think we need to continue this case. commissioner garcia: to what end? commissioner fung: to the submission of whatever you feel is required to be changed. it can be voted up or down next week. >> and if the commissioners are inclined to change their actual vote on the decision, it might be recommended to continue its so the we can agendize the item clearly -- to continue it. so that another vote is taken and that these findings are not adopted. commissioner garcia: is this
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just for the be a reconsideration of what is before us? >> it could be either one. you can take no additional evidence, or if you want to accept additional evidence on particular topics, you could do that at your discretion. commissioner hwang: i think additional evidence would help me, and that is why i made the motion to reopen, to allow evidence to be submitted to the board. president peterson: i think that is fair. i think a full record in this case is warranted. commissioner garcia: one thing i would be interested in, assuming that we and a continuing and we get new evidence, all would be very interested in that part of the code that addresses removing fixtures, and also, the permit
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holder stipulated that they removed that, and i do not clearly remember that they did that. i want to be able to find where they actually did that, some evidence that they did or did not do that. commissioner fung: commissioners, then i think we need to reopen the process. and if we are going to do that, similar things, in the construction contract, it talks of the demolition of concrete. so i think the building department needs to look into that. commissioner garcia: we are asking the building department to look into what we have already been briefed on to determine based on their statements whether or not that was in violation of any coach.
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is that a reasonable interpretation? commissioner fung: yes. so, commissioners, if that is the direction we are going, then i would like to move to continue this, madam director. you want to vote on that first? commissioner hwang: i did make a motion. are we on a different page here? >> the idea is to continue the matter. commissioner hwang: i want is to use the right terminology. commissioner fung: when? >> commissioners, the next time we will have a full board is
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january 19. the calendar is already full, but if you want to add to it, you can, and then the next meeting after that we will have a full board is february 9. commissioner garcia: i would rather stay here late on the 19th then further prejudice the permit holder, and i think mr. kornfield wants to. >> we have elections. >> could i look at the ritz in submittals rather than going to the oral testimony to consider whether permits would be required, or did you actually want me to go through the testimony? commissioner fung: i think kirsten submittals is fine. >> ok. -- whitson submittals is fine. -- written submittals is fine. >> ok.
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vice president goh: whether or not they were replaced, whether or not that is in the record. commissioner fung: it was in the contractor is a declaration. vice president goh: thanks. vice president goh: i have a question about the 19th. we have other items to be heard, as well. how many? 6, 7, 8? >> yes, there will be election of officers. commissioner garcia: that usually takes five minutes. >> oh this is to continue it until january 19 with some briefing and some exhibits allowed. i think we should specify how
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many pages you are interested in seeing and exactly what topics you want to see it on, and my recommendation is that both parties to submit the thursday prior, as opposed to having rebuttal. commissioner fung: commissioners, since i personally feel that all information has already been submitted, i would like the briefing to be 3 pages. vice president goh: i was going to suggest one page with unlimited exhibits. commissioner fung: 3 pages total. commissioner garcia: you cannot limit that. commissioner hwang: i like the one page. just summarize it. >> one page a briefing, and limited exhibits, but all parties submit the thursday prior to the hearing on
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