into the twenty first century. g1÷we have made technology a priority. we 3dfu access to services in other languages, which@ou is why we do chinese and spanish. that deserved it in this tough market. we have beenqqo active with educating people that are facing foreclosures. and=5÷ we have worked to cut a backlog÷ it was common for people to not get reassessed forymñ over four years. just by cutting that backlog, we brought ingc above our budget. o6>> on behalf ofççç myself, the league of women voters, and partner organizations sfgtv andm the san francisco public

for participating. thank you for taking the timeoi to educate y(> thank you. [applause] >> good morning. today is wednesday, september 29, 2010. this is a regular meeting of

the building inspection commission. at this time i would like to remind everyone to please turn off all electronic devices such as cell phones and pagers. the first item on the agenda is roll call. president murphy? proim here. >> vice president hechanova? commissioner hechanova: here. >> commissioner clinch: commissioner. any announcements? proim i don't have any announcements. 6 >> the next item is item number three, directors report, 3 a, update on the d.b.i. finances. director day: good morning, commissioners, president murphy. vivian day, director. our revenues are up 13% over the same time last year. net they're up 15%. so that's a good indication

that we are still recovering and going on up the scale for the recession problems. president murphy: is that because of big projects? director day: there have been several large projects submitted, also due to the impact fee deferral legislation that was introduced. we are experiencing several projects of our taking advantage of the deferral process for the impact fees. so it's allowing some larger projects to go forward. we have one on 299 that's ready to go forward. and then we have another large one for the redevelopment agency that's going to go forward. we also have another large project at ocean. it's are the to issue and ready

to go for the avalon bay ocean avenue condos and the big whole foods market that's going in on 1150 ocean avenue. that's a large project that will be coming forward. the other part of our revenue increases that we have been taking in and doing plan check for, more of the port projects lately. so that's helping. president murphy: thank you. director day: also, our expenditures have decreased a net of about 3%. that's mainly due to our inability to hire right at the moment. there was a hiring freeze on. we have some position that will become available in october that we will be asking to have made available for hire so that will be happening in on the. those are the positions requested in the budget for last year, that when the budget committee approves the new position or a requested position, they only budgeted at

3/4 of the position. so that means i can't even advertise the position until about october. so hopefully we'll have those people in place by the end of the year also. so that's going to help. but we're still on target with the budget. and we are doing very well. and our request for refunds have decreased. so that's also a good indication that we're not having projects just go by the wayside now. president murphy: it looks like a request for refunds are balancing out with the -- what did i say the figure was? $800,000 for the refund? director day: right. in other words, our surplus -- it's not surplus. our additional revenue, we are putting it aside for refunds. we will reallocate when we do our mid-year budget adjustments. if we see that we do not have a need for that money, we will reallocate it back into expenditures for the department.

president murphy: ok. now i understand. >> item 3b, update on proposed legislation. director day: right. the proposed legislation -- president murphy: do we have to take public comments on that? >> do you want to do it at the end or after each item? at the end of each item? president murphy: let's talk with counsel here. my choice. [laughter] i'd like to do the public comments on each item. >> ok. president murphy: if the public are like me, they'll have forgot by the time we get to the next item. >> ok. public comments on item 3a? president murphy: seeing none. >> then item 3b, update on proposed legislation. director day: right. i did have a meeting with supervisor supervisor alioto-pier: regarding the need for m.o.d. to have a copy of the agenda and minutes for the access appeals board. and there is another way that

we can address this without putting it into the building code. we can address it in the bylaws of the access appeals commission so i've requested a meeting with -- i am going to request a meeting with the access appeals board to see if they're in the process of modifying their bylaws now. if they could just add the sentence that -- they could have -- any city agency can have a copy of the minutes and agenda that would so request. it's just a courtesy to other city departments. that would be a better way to handle it so that it is in the bylaws. it is always handled for any city agency. and then it can go forward without having to be in the building code where it really doesn't belong. president murphy: ok. any questions, commissioners? public comments? >> public comments? >> i did not come here today to comment on this item, but i guess i must. i didn't realize it was coming up. i just wanted to thank you for the discussion you've had and

for the apparent outcome of that. there's been no discussion with the access appeals commission, whether the president, individual members or the body. so i think i would like to see you do that i'll just point out before the discussion happens that one of the major divisions between the oversight that the building department does and then its appeals commission and m.o.d. does is that m.o.d. is responsible for the accessibility of the program, all programs, of the city and county of san francisco. that's title two of the a.d.a. that's state and local government programs. both facilities and activities. title 3, dealing with privately owned. we'll be happy to share this with anybody and change our bylaws to do that, as far as i'm concerned. but really, i would not like to see them distracted in their business of making san francisco government accessible to its citizens and visitors by them send spending a lot of

time looking at title 3 questions because they have their hands full and they have a tiny staff. and you have your hands full and you have too small a staff. so i think that the division that has happened to throw tens of thousands of title 3 cases on to m.o.d. would be confusing. thank you. president murphy: thank you. next speaker? i see none. next item. sonya? >> ok. item 3c, update on permit tracking systems. director day: yes. i'm pleased to announce that we have an r.f.p. that will be going to the city attorney's office and to the human rights commission by the 15th of october for review. we should be able to put the r.f.p. to the steering committee before the first of november, which is the steering committee of the permit tracking system which includes members from other city agencies, the controllers' office, the department of

technology. and they will comment on the final r.f.p. we home to get it back out on the street and advertised during the month of november so that we can accept bids by the first 6 january. -- -- of january. president murphy: any comments? seems like we hear this report every month since i've been around here, five or six years now. we never get any closer. any public comments? seeing none. next item. >> item 3d, update on d.b.i.'s role in response to emergencies. director day: yes. i've had several meetings with the department of public works regarding the roles that some of of their engineers and architects will play in the event of an emergency in a callout. i'm also going to be meeting with h.s.a. and the mayor's office of housing regarding their role in response to

emergency callouts. we will also include the department of emergency management in that meeting so that we're all on the same page about where people report to in the event of an emergency and how different priorities are going to be handled in the e.o.c. center and rdoc center regarding all buildings for the city and county of san francisco for which we are responsible for as the building department. so whether it's private and public in the event of an emergency, even if it's state-owned, we become responsible for reporting on those buildings so we wanted to have a collective method of reporting. so we are converging and having meetings regarding this so we are going forward on that. commissioner walker: that's great. can you keep us updated on that. also in light of the san bruno issue with the gas lines, i would ask that our department move that issue. it doesn't seem to move on its

own, and we brought it up with some of the wood frame recommendations that the gas lines and auto shutoff valves, especially in large buildings, be looked at. it might be part of this process. especially the ability for pg&e to automatically shut off gas in the case of emergency. and who makes that call? director day: right. they are looking into that with the utility companies due to the fact that they are responsible for the utilities and the public rite of way. and we can only be responsible for the utilities that are on the property. commissioner walker: right. director day: so our building inspectors are look as they go through the building to make sure there are proper gas shutoffs in the buildings that they do inspect. we don't have a mandatory program at this time to do that, but that's something that we can look into. commissioner walker: good.

yeah, that's a big deal. and it's one that we actually -- the ability to have somebody make a call to shutoff gas to quadrants is a big deal. and this would be probably a good process to include that conversation in. president murphy: commissioner hechanova? commissioner hechanova: i would like to add besides just shutoff of gas but the possibility of also water that might not become available to fight the fire that's already going where the gas might have been shut off, but the flame issues. especially on wood frame buildings. that water, as a firefighting component of it, is also essential to the whole effort to have a collective and comprehensive approach to the emergency response. director day: right. and that was part of the bond issue that just was passed with the fire department to reevaluate the existing

supplemental water supply to fight fires. and that is going to be started to be worked on by the fire department and replaced soon. the auxiliary water supply. commissioner hechanova: thank you. president murphy: we have shutoff valves in place for every building in san francisco as it stands right now. we might consider educating the public a little bit on how to shut these valves off. it amazes me how many people have no idea where their gas meter is, how many people don't have a clue how to turn it off. that would be my suggestion, if we could encourage, educate the public. i know the utility companies are supposed to do that, but they don't always do it. any further comments? seeing none.

>> my name is bob melky with small property owners. on the gas shutoff issue, housing inspectors for years have been requiring the wrench be installed at the main shutoff of any r-2 building, three units and more. and there was always a diagram that was there to show them how to turn the lever. so they've been doing that for years. you know, you could amplify that if you wanted to and stuff. but they've been doing that for years. i just wanted to bring that up as a point. thank you. president murphy: thank you. any further comments? >> good morning. commissioners, as a tenant 43 years in the same unit, i managed to learn all about my unit. and one of the things that was important for me to learn was

how to shut off the gas valve and also to have a tool available. i think landlords should take the responsibility to teach the tenants how to react in case of emergency. and, well, the community leaders can also help by volunteering in their block to teach other people how to react and work together in case of a big fire emergencies. thank you. and please let me know when the discussion for the house members and inspections. thank you. president murphy: thank you.

any further comments? seeing none. next item, please. >> 3e, update on other activities affecting administration of the department. director day: i have nothing to report on that, but i am willing to answer any questions that the commissioners might have. president murphy: commissioners? maybe we can do that in closed session. any comments? on item e? seeing none. >> item 4, public comment. the b.i.c. will take public comment on matters within the commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda. president murphy: you have three minutes, ma'am.

>> yes. i live on green street. my building is next and east to 1884 green street. and there's a driveway common easement 100 feet down the back of the property line. there are two violation notices against the owner for additional work permit required. i have several questions and requests. why does the violation read only additional permit required? two, it is my understanding proper unapproved board be torn down. our one case in richmond, they were made to tear the property down. number three, several years ago this owner extended without a permit an addition to the north about eight feet without a permit. neighbors and i complained, but no action was taken by the city. number four, this past year the same owner has moved the foundation from the original site three feet east toward my building and toward the easement which is causing a great deal of access

difficulty. number five, he has removed tons of dirt for height and for weeks on time left heaps of dirt and debris uncovered on the street, in the backyard, during extremely windy actions no. action was taken by the city. why were complaints in the first section of eight feet ignored? this year i telephoned the department several times and made a personal visit to the office to inquiry about the legality of the work and why neighbor notification wasn't done. i was assured everything was legal. no notification was required. why? if it is because i did not complain in writing this time, it is because of fear of this owner. he has been around wearing his uniform, threatening me, and carried out one threat in my opinion. i also complained to the citizens complaint. complaint was acknowledged. but when i followed through at a later date, i was told there is no complaint against this owner, he's a fine man, it has been pulled. it had been pulled. i'm asking for compliance with the law that all of these additions be removed and laws be complied with. i'm requesting help for prompt

action. thank you very much. president murphy: thank you. next speaker, please. seeing none. >> item number 5, update on community action plan for seismic safety, capss. president murphy: mr. tobin was supposed to be here? >> i'm not sure what happened. i'm not sure if he's coming or not. president murphy: can we table that until the next meeting? >> sure. we'll continue it. the next item, item 6, discussion and possible action regarding proposed legislation file 101075, an ordinance amending the san francisco building code by amending section 107a .13 to modify the

method of calculating the development fee deferral surcharge rate and to clarify when a project sponsor may elect to defer the payment of development impact and in-lieu fees, adopting environmental finding. director day: yes. this is to clarify smishyuse in the legislation that has already passed. and the method that they had originally determined to calculate the interest rate was not acceptable to the actual tax collector's office and was almost impossible to calculate. so they developed a simpler method to calculate the interest rate for both the department, the tax collectors' department, and the capital planning group. so it's to clarify that. and it's also to clarify when the decision to defer the payment has to be made by the project sponsor so this was just some clarification language. and it really doesn't affect just some clarification

language. and it really doesn't affect the implementation of the program except it makes it a little bit easier for both the project sponsor and the department. president murphy: so it's already been voted on by the board of supervisors? >> and just as i understand it, the deferral of the development from the time of the application to the certificate of occupancy. that's correct? director day: right. the original legislation has been passed by the board of supervisors. this is just an amendment to that original legislation to clarify some points that were in the original legislation that we weren't able to implement correctly. >> ok. i get it. president murphy: so it's mostly about fees? director day: yes. it's about development impact fee dematerials and when they're able to be actually determined, when the project sponsor has to make the decision to either defer the fees or to pay the fees in advance so that we know as a department how to calculate the interest rates.

commissioner walker: great. president murphy: any other comments, commissioners? commissioner hechanova: is there additional time that it then takes to follow up to administrative collect or is it just the point of when certificate of occupancy is applied for and pulled? director day: no. the department actually starts working on the fee deferral program the minute that a project is submitted for plan review because there's a different way we have to route plans now. we have to have a determination by the departments that have development impact fees. they have to get back to us within 30 days. we have so much time to develop a report to give to the project sponsors that he can either contest or work with the departments to make sure that they're the right fees, that he is going to be assessed. whether he pays them at the time of site permit issue, a first construction document, is his decision, or whether he wants to defer these fees.

that timeframe right there is what was not clarified in the original legislation. so some people thought they had at the time of the first construction document, ready to issue, they thought they could decide to pay it then or defer it then. but we fleeded to know at the time before the construction document -- needed to know before the construction document was even submitted. because the interest rate kicks in at the time of the fee deferral determination. commissioner hechanova: which is before it -- director day: the approval of the first construction document. commissioner hechanova: thank you. director day: so the time is calculated from the time it's chosen to defer or not to defer. president murphy: we had a discussion about this back in may. a presentation from the mayor's office. they have ironed out all the kinks and voted on it. public comments on this? seeing none.

>> item number 7. president murphy: we have to vote on this. commissioner walker: move to support. president murphy: all in favor? commissioner hechanova: second. commissioner walker: eh aye. were there any opposed? >> no? ok. then the motion passes. item number 7. update on issues and concerns discussed at the public advisory committee meetings. director day: yes. commissioners, again, we try to have a monthly public advisory committee meeting in some cases it conflict with other scheduled meetings, so sometimes i have to cancel them and defer them to another time. try to reschedule them during the same month if i can. if i can't, then it's deferred until the next month. but at these meetings we discuss various policy procedures or procedures that are happening within the department. we try do have -- to have representatives of other departments, plan checking departments there if they wish

to come. it's not mandatory to come. this is a voluntary advisory committee, so i can't actually force any other department to come. we have had several departments that have continuous attendance. the fire department always comes. we have representatives now with the m.t.a. that mostly comes to every meeting and we also have some health department official that are coming to the meeting. so we are getting better attendance from other departments. we would like to increase the departments to include all the plan checking departments. but sometimes it's just not within their schedules to attend. but we do have representatives of industry. and any public member is able to come to these meetings. we have an agenda. and we also request that if someone wants to talk about an item on the agenda, that they let us know and we try to put that item on the agenda. president murphy: i think that last sentence that you said there, the customers, the

people that are writing the checks, they need to be heard. this is a very important committee. it's not something that started last week or last month. it's been around since director chu, director esam and director amy lee. so i think i certainly have been getting a lot of complaints that people are not being heard so that's the only comment that i can make on this. director day: we do have minutes of every meeting of when we do have their meetings. so the minutes of every meeting are available to the commissioners. we can post them on our website, too, if that would be of interest to anybody. but anyone's welcome to come to these meetings and discuss issues. we have an open round table forum at the end of each meeting. commissioner walker: could we

maybe post that in a public area of when these meetings are . and, you know, sort of if the public has issues, especially around process, that maybe they can be invited to attend. especially, you know, at the front desk. director day: sure. we have them on the bulletin board area of each floor. we will make sure that they are up there each time. commissioner walker: it is an asset. it's way more involved with the processes that we don't deal with necessarily here, the day-to-day operations. maybe we can just publicize it mover, too. -- more, too. commissioner lee: let me ask this. are these committee meetings report -- recorded or are there minutes? director day: yes. commissioner lee: can they be posted? director day: that's what i -- commissioner walker: just do a little more p.r. on it so people know where to go if they have more process-related

issues and questions. president murphy: the last director was very, very big on the p.a.c. meetings. he wanted the customers, as he called them, in, to participate. other comments, commissioners? seeing none. public comments? you have three minutes. >> thank you, president murphy. my name is henry. good morning, commissioners. the p.a.c. has been a long time, -- time. the purpose is an advisory to the department for accommodations and procedures that effect customers. the om