we have six sunshine requests from her affecting hundreds of pages of documents. we continued to make them available to her as soon as we could. and as fast a turn around as we could. the one that she requested and was given to her on august 22, i can only assume was something that she requested within the week prior, because we did our best to turn around and make everything we could available to her as quickly as possible. everything that she had requested prior to the hearing was made available. prior to her brief was made available to her before her brief. all of the documentation regarding, you know, our attempts to contact her, his when documents were available, was included in my response, as an exhibit. >> president hwang: thank you. mr. snyder.

>> good evening. dan snyder with the planning department. our feeling, commissioners, is that there is no new information at all in this matter, much less information that will be suggestive of a rehearing. the appellant does ask the board to revisit what appear to be five separate issues. what i'd like to do is run through those quickly and i'll sit back down again. the first issue is that the appellant continues to allege that the -- work for this permit was not clearly defined. in fact, the scope remains exactly as it has since prior to your august hearing. this fact is acknowledged on i believe page 2 of the appellant's brief. secondly the appellant alleges there is new work on the site without permit. this allegation appears to stem from a potential misunderstanding, again of information available prior to

your august hearing. even if this wasn't the case, work without permit would be subject to a separate code enforcement matter that would be aside from this permit and this appeal. thirdly, the appellant alleges that there have been improper inspections. here too, even if there were the case and we understand from colleagues from dbi that it is not, the appropriate remedy would have been to stop the work and obtain those permits rather than to rehear the matter. fourthly, the appellant alleges that work at the summit may impact possible historic resources. the project won't have any such impact, mainly because work is not proposed at the summit. this was stated by rec park staff and planning staff both at the august hearing and before that hearing -- and those statements were acknowledged by the appellant in her brief and a

minute ago at this hearing. lastly the appellant alleges that parts of the project are not appropriatel appropriately . if this were true, according to our colleagues we understand it is not, this information was available well in advance of the august hearing. on balance, commissioners, there is no new information here, and as such we would respectfully submit to you that the appellant has not met your threshold for the granting of a rehearing request. commissioners, i do thank you for your time and we're happy to answer any questions. >> president hwang: could you hit that fourth point again. >> the allegation as we understand it from the appellant is that there has been -- or there is proposed work at the summit that may impact historical or archeological resources, potential resources. we are of the position that there could be no such impact because no work is proposed at the summit.

>> okay. thank you. >> president hwang: thank you. mr. reardon. >> good evening, commissioners. patrick o'reardon, dbi. i believe there are multiple layers of review, inspection -- and inspection involved with this work. and i really think that it's everyone's intent to deliver a code-compliant project here. since the last meeting regarding this matter, six special inspections have been applied to this permit, as would be required for the structural elements involved with the work. so that is another level of a review, and verification for the structural work having to do with what was proposed under this permit. the accessibility features, they were reviewed by kevin jenson,

who is city staff with dpw. he is a specialist -- he is going to do the inspections regarding the accessibility along with dbi. again, we intend to ensure that we have compliance with the requirements of ada, and accessibility for this park. senior inspector duffy who spoke to you at the last meeting regarding this matter was at the site last thursday to investigate a complaint regarding possible work at the tennis court area. he was unable to see any work being done in the tennis court area, except for storage of materials. so that complaint was based on not having merit. now, the construction that is going on, supposedly right now, is, as i understand it, is a bench seat that is less than four feet, and wouldn't require

a permit in the first place, let alone inspection. so in reading the brief i'm not seeing anything new above and beyond what we heard at our last meeting. i'm available for any questions. >> president hwang: thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? three minutes. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is stefan franz a sitting member of the open spaces advisory committee, a member of the friends of lafayette park board and stakeholder in lafayette park. i won't take up much of your time tonight because i testified at the august 22nd hearing. i want to reiterate that the community at large feels strongly and sides with rec

park, that the work needs to just continue, that ms. gallagher's opposition is understood, is accepted, but that, at this point, clearly she has made up her mind that she will see this through. we would ask that you not grant a rehearing. we do not hear any new or updated information that should affect your decision. and we would just ask that we get this project back on track. thank you. >> ken bruce.>> president hwang. >> next speaker. >> hi there. kathy sierl and i presented at the last meeting. we definitely made progress since last time that i was here. i stopped by dbi yesterday and there are in fact six special inspections that are on file now so we did make some progress. good. however, in referring to the

documents that shannon gallagher referred to that we got on august 20, we looked through those and find that there are still some things that are slipping through the cracks that i want to bring to your attention. the items that i'm going to talk about are on the 820 disc and they include daily reports that we first received on 8/20 and hadn't seen before along with an inspection log. we hadn't seen any inspection log prior to august 26 when we i picked up the cd. i want to show you the inspection log and there are a couple of items i highlighted in yellow. first is this northern bench where you can see has a failure score for its foundation, for the soil that was tested. how did they respond to that. on the august 13 daily report, they ripped it out. they identified that there was a problem with the foundation. they ripped it out. after that, on the next day, the august 14th report, they fixed

it. they started recompacting the soil because the soil had failed and looks like they're going to do a good job on this item. however that's not the case with one of the other items. going back to the inspection log, you'll see that there was a north play ground seat well, with multiple failures. two days later, teddy -- sorry, we'dward forester inspected the rebar. two days later he inspected and passed it. what happened after that. on july 29, he was made aware, in his daily report that he wrote, that there was a failure, written down here at the bottom. it's too small to read and i couldn't -- because i figured it wouldn't look good but he is aware that there was failure and work continued on the seat well, which is quite large. work continued on august 8.

i have seen no eched efsdz evidt this has been taken care of so we are developing a rather large seat well area on soil that failed. i hope this is an example and one that would grant us a rehearing. thank you. >> president hwang: next speaker please. >> hi. my name is caree careena careen. i want to point out that rec and park has reached out to our community really well from the very beginning and before we had our first community meeting to make sure all the community was heard. and i think they've responded to everyone's complaints and

concerns in a really timely and respectful manner. not that everyone got their way, but this has come up at the 12th hour. and i just want you guys to know that the city has really done a good job on this. thanks. >> thank you. >> president hwang: next speaker please. >> good evening, commissioners. i'm lynn newhouse seigel, friends of the lafayette park and we are not aware of any -- we came today to hear this appeal, or this request for rehearing. we are not aware of any new information that's come up since the last hearing. we had a large group of people that testified on both sides at the last hearing. you heard the friends of lafayette park and the neighborhood really wants -- we're looking at the big picture. the plans are the result of a

lot of community outreach, community meetings. not everybody got their way, but at this point, we want it to go forward. and we're told that our beautiful park is not going to open until possibly next july, instead of next may, because of all this delay. so we would like to see everything go forward. thank you. >> president hwang: thank you. >> next speaker please. >> -- commissioners. my name is -- and i live across the street from this park, and i am an engineer. >> would you mind speaking into the microphone. it's hard to hear you. >> i live across the park. and i watching all this construction site. and i am an engineer too. i look at the building plans for the park, the soil tests, and the resident engineer reports.

ms. gallagher -- my opinion about -- soil. of course -- the foundation -- of soil -- not acceptable. and the -- solution there just to do the work. but it appears there is like -- from the resident engineer reports, no work was redone. instead, they simply ripped out the structure and poured new concrete. so it want to be every single one of the soil density test done in the playground area -- with one month since knowing -- there are no reports that work was redone. to me, it's a serious matter. as they say you build from ground up. so the ground is poor, unstable, that entire structure is. don't get me wrong. i want this park done as soon as possible. i imagine -- all this construction like from the street. sometimes i work from my home office. that's very disturbing.

so i am 100% there, with the community, to get this park done. but watching the work, i don't know how the city allow it to continue. as i told some -- in july, some -- work is done in one dog area that will take two weeks. it has been almost two months before it's been completed. to do this work, the entire area has been ripped apart. and similar work needs to be done through all the -- the park. we were promised the park would be completed in april but just now, we received the -- i was shown the report that the -- from the mary hobson that work is to be done -- is not to be done until july. work is continuing but -- that was poured and ripped out again, i mean that just doesn't right. it doesn't look right. >> i'm sorry, i just need clarification, sir.

i'd like some clarification. were you paid to review the documents? >> oh, no. i spent like four hours, my very personal time, review documents -- perfect. it occurred after the fact. thank you. >> so, anyway, the only question is there that we need to know what's going on in the park. and any additional information, definitely will help. and my opinion, you should grant rehearing, and you should know where the work's being done -- the permits -- inspection oversight. please grant the rehearing. thank you. >> thank you. is there any other public comment? okay. seeing none then commissioners, the matter is submitted. >> vice president fung: i have another question for ms. gallagher.

let's clarify a couple of things on the timeline of documentation that was provided to you. the department has indicated you made six sunshine requests. the one that was provided to you on august 20th was reflective of which request? >> prior to the first hearing, i made two sunshine requests. one was dated june 21 and the other was dated june 26. i also, at the meeting, held at supervisor farrell's office specifically explained what i was looking for, two -- and ms. hobson. if they want to count that as a third request i thought of it more as a clarification. that was july 29. the documents that i think are very important here that weren't reviewed -- that were not provided until august 20 are related to the inspection. so if you notice i didn't talk about inspections at the first hearing. the other two document is the

610 permit, the approved plans. >> vice president fung: those were the ones that you provided copies to us. >> yes. i provided only some. i didn't want to give you all of them. it's lots of pages. >> vice president fung: thank you. >> commissioner lazarus: you just stated and i believe it's in some of our material that you made requests in june. the department responded that the materials, the information was ready. they did not hear back from you for almost a month. can you explain that lapse please. >> the first things i requested included the plans and the notes from the project. and i was contacted by two different people. i did not realize that there were two different sets of information. i went down the next week, after making my request, before fourth of july, and i went to the department -- the planning department, who provided me with two project folders, two project files and allowed me to make copies of relevant materials in those files. i didn't realize that the other

materials, because they were all supposed to be project plans, would be different. but they did include some additional different information about the original permit plans. the original permit plans of course are not -- they're not part of the appeal because they're not part of the approved plans. >> commissioner lazarus: why wouldn't you use responses from rec and park which were made on three spate days to clarify what you had, what you needed and what they thought you wanted? >> my request went to mary hobson and then i started receiving e-mails from -- >> commissioner lazarus: she was copied so wouldn't that indicate she asked her to respond to you? >> everybody in the different departments e-mails from sfgov.org. when i received the first set of stuff from cecilia i didn't know exactly the relationship. so when i thought i had seen all of the permit plans then i believed i had seen all of those. i didn't put that together.

it was only later, when i was still asking for other documents, to try to clarify in july, that i realized that there would be a copy -- that there may be some additional materials. those materials, for the most part, the duplicative ones that i had already seen at the planning department are not things that i raised any issues related to. i've raised issues related to materials that were not provided, and that were not sitting waiting for me anywhere. they were not provided until there was an e-mail that saits that she needs to make certain to get documents to me by at least august 20. on august 20 at 11:49 in the morning i received an e-mail from mary hobson saying they have these new e-mails and i went in the next day and had to get a cd because it was so voluminous i couldn't get it through e-mail. >> commissioner lazarus: thank you.

>> president hwang: i'm sorry that you sat down. i just thought of another question. i know it was the testimony of the public commenter that pointed out the different documents showing the inspection of the seat well, and the issues with the soil. was that ever between the time that you discovered it to today, raised, and brought to park rec or anyone at any of the departments that -- >> after the last hearing, i spoke to the president of the friends of lafayette park and asked her if she was not concerned that there were solid failure scores for the test. she said she would address it to mary hobson. i included nor about that in my brief to you requesting this rehearing. >> president hwang: right. so you relied on someone from --

for lack of a better word, your opposition to get it directly to park and rec. >> i would hope lafayette park are not my opposition. >> commissioner lazarus: accordinaccord -- >> president hwang: according to this, they are. >> i want the park to be finished as soon as possible as well. as to whom i addressed it, i also addressed this matter to supervisor farrell's office, and i also have, you know, gone down to the department of building inspectors. i've sat with three different -- >> president hwang: with this issue, that particular issue that was raised today that you are alleging constitutes new evidence. >> yes. i sat with specifically a woman last name is hugh m., a special technical specialist, i sat with her a few tuesdays ago before writing my papers, maybe it was two tuesdays ago and asked her what would be the proper remedy if you had failures on all soil

scores. i also asked for and received from rec and park the soil specific guidelines that they were using very detailed contract documents. i brought that with me, and the plans, down to the department of building inspectors and sat with the technical specialist. i asked her what the proper cure would be for that and she said well obviously you would need to remove the rebar and recompact the soil and then went through all of the inspection reports. i did ask for an update for any additional inspection reports and i was provided those. i now have seen the reports through the end of august and there was nothing ever done to go back and fix that problem. >> president hwang: did you lodge a complaint with respect to what you discovered? >> i think i followed the argument here, which is that you discovered, in the production, the new alleged new evidence that the inspection disclosed --

exposed some failure in the soil, and then no further correction was done. did you lodge a complaint with the department upon learning this? or did you just go to get information about what should have been done? >> i didn't lodge a complaint with the department of building inspectors. >> president hwang: or with park rec. >> no. i simply advised them of the situation in my brief. >> president hwang: in your brief. >> yes. it's stated in my brief and i copied and included copies of those reports, as attachments to the brief to request the rehearing. >> president hwang: what would we gain from having your matter reheard on this -- based on this new evidence? >> well we just heard again from another department that there is no work planned for the summit. and i don't understand how that's the case when later issued permit show work happening at the summit, and work that would be done without taking care of the archeological

facts that we do know are there, and work that was approved after. >> president hwang: so you don't -- you're not hoping for a rehearing to address the concern that you believe is new evidence. >> absolutely. that's exactly what i want pmpleghtsdz sounds like you're talking about some other -- >> the two pieces of evidence that i think are very crucial here are about the inspections and failure to do something to correct those things, and about the changes to what we've been told would happen at the summit. it seems like no one really knows what's happening at the summit. >> president hwang: we heard from planning no work will be done. it's on the record so no work seen being done at the summit and they can take down the construction tape and take people away from there and stop preparing to do work there and reopen that part of the park so there's no work being done there. >> president hwang: i'd like to hear from planning on that subject. just to confirm that my understanding is clear, and that

the requester's understanding is clear. >> is that potentially a staging area for some other work? >> i couldn't speak to the question to staging. i'm sure ms. hobson can. with respect to our department appellant stated in the brief and a few minutes ago that mr. sanchez at the august hearing did indicate no work was to take place in the summit. it is our understanding tonight that no work is to take place in the summit. i'm sure ms. hobson could confirm that now if you so choose. >> president hwang: please. before you speak, ms. gallagher just raised a illustration. can you just raise it again so maybe you can address -- no. just what you're trying to signal to us. okay. >> i think what mr. sanchez articulated at the first meeting is that there is no work at the

summit, covered under permit 1610. the one that is suspended before you for consideration today. we do have work at the summit under a -- actually i think i gave you the wrong number. 0448 is the permit that's under suspension, which is the bathroom, pathways, and retaining wall permit. there is work at the summit under a subsequent permit which has been issued and has also been appealed by ms. gallagher. so you'll hear all about the work at the summit in our october hearing. >> president hwang: okay. >> vice president fung: i think that was clearly stated in the brief. >> well it's being -- again. i just wanted clarification. >> vice president fung: it's on us. >> president hwang: yes, it's on us. >> vice president fung: commissioners, the question that has been raised is whether the

timeliness and delivery of of information, which was predominantly inspection reports, rises to the level of having a impact on the entitlement of the permit. what is before us is not professional competency or incompetency, or what is defective work that needs to be replaced or not. the question is whether the information that was provided, rather late, rises to having an impact on the overall entitlement of the permit. i don't believe that it does. i don't think that the soil -- inspection reports which reflected implementation of the permit is really reflective of the issues of the permit. therefore i would not support a rehearing. >> president hwang: well stated. and i would agree.

>> vice president fung: and this case will be back before us. >> president hwang: right. >> vice president fung: i move to deny rehearing. >> thank you. mr. pacheco, when you're ready. >> on that motion from vice president fung to deny the rehearing request, president hwang, aye. commissioner lazarus, aye. the vote is 3-0. this rehearing request is denied and a notice of decision and order shall be released. >> president hwang: thank you. so we'll move on to item 5 which is appeal 12-056 pat buscovich versus department of building dption. subject property at 2853-2857 broderick street protesting issuance on april 17, 2012 to inger conrad to alter a building to raise the building 36 inches,

build new garage for future expansion. you may recall this matter was before you last time as a rehearing request, which was granted. so it is on for rehearing today so the parties can present to you a settlement. >> i'm irving seretski the appellant for the rehearing, on behalf of kate poll voi. we're happy to tell you all the neighbors on the block, all 2853-57 have come to a very great agreement, and we are very pleased with it. it was negotiated on the part of all the principals, and it is really a very satifactory agreement. we hope that you will do your very best to expedite our getting an amended permit, and do everything that she needs to do to get started and get finished with the job just as quickly as