across, or does it come over electronically? >> both, president. certainly we have sort of a routine transfer for building permits. they are transferred from and to d.b.i. and planning. but when it does come to messages, of course, i think that as commissioner walker pointed out the need to radically modernize, perhaps, is a way of saying it, the permitting process with the new permit system being developed. it is an example of this. we acknowledge that we need to drag ourselves into the 21st century. we acknowledge we need to communicate more electronically, that that in itself will be a better communicator, and it's a better way to serve the public. we're not there yet. president o'brien: sorry to interrupt you. point taken. that's definitely the goal that will probably come up. i would just reiterate again,

it would be -- commissioner romero is absolutely right. it may be a mayor function. but certainly, whether there's been a lot of results from the advisory meetings, that the public have been invited to participate in, and various members of city agencies have participated in, there is -- i can assure you, there's perception that they're very productive meetings where they can get to meet the directors of the various agencies, and it feels good that they're there hearing the feedback and the suggestions. and it is unfortunate -- i did that one myself, the last one, two weeks ago. it was unfortunate that nobody was there from the planning department. and i don't want to bash up on this, but the last one i was at happened to be during the world series, and it was sort of -- the world series is on.

it was understood, but politically, it didn't look right. i just hope i can get a message out there, that if you could maybe talk to somebody there and try to help, it would make such a difference to the -- because there's a lot of this about perception, and the perception that the planning department gives to the people. at d.b.i., they get favorable ratings, to be fair, to them. they work hard, they put out these permits, they're generating revenue. people have a different feeling about them. i just give that to you as a suggestion, if i may follow up on commissioner murphy's comment. >> it's very well-taken. please, commissioners and colleagues, the planning department in no way means any disrespect to you or to our sister agencies. i do think that perception, as you said, is oftentimes the issue. whenever two large bureaucracies get together,

there are almost invariably miscommunications and sort of detrimental things that happen. but we do have an excellent relationship with director day, with d.b.i. staff and management and elsewhere. we are committed to strengthening that relationship. when this meeting is done, i will again reach out to folks. i think that your notion of attending more meetings, president o'brien, is a very good one. and we will commit to doing that now. president o'brien: it shall be noted. thank you. president murphy: we had a real hard time back six or eight months ago after we revamped our fifth floor, we didn't have a planner there. and it took us months to get somebody over there. and that's when i thought we weren't getting very much respect at that time.

at least that's the way i felt. >> i can certainly understand how that could be the perception. by way of explanation, the planning department, as you know, commissioners, has gone through a time of substantial personnel change. and that was the cause of that problem. please know that it was not anything more. we do very much understand the issue and agree with director day and her notion of having a one-stop shop on that floor. we were just in a time of staff transition and simply did not have a body to spare. president murphy: thank you. at least you're familiar with it. thank you, mr. sider. i appreciate it. could we have public comments, please? i see none. next item, please. >> seeing no public comment, we

can move on to item number four. presentation and discussion on the process and procedures of appeals that come before the board of supervisors. presentation by rick caldeira, legislative deputy, office of the clerk of the board of supervisors. >> good evening, commissioners. i'd like to thank you and welcome you to the board of supervisors chambers this evening. i'm rick caldeira, the legislative deputy director working for the board of supervisors. i'm here to give you a brief overview of the types of appeals that actually come through the board of supervisors. i don't have any of the information regarding any of the approval process that happens at the planning commission, or the planning department, which you recently just talked to mr. sider about. he is going to be available in case there are any additional questions about these appeals that do come forward to the board of supervisors. i have a brief presentation that you should all have a copy in front of you. for the viewing public, if we can move over to the overhead.

the types of appeals that are filing with the clerk of the board is the ceqa, the e.i.r.'s, which are the environmental impact reports, conditional use and tentative maps. starting off on the ceqas. they require public agencies to identify environmental impacts to propose actions. identifies ways to avoid and reduce environmental damage. it has -- the public process. who may file is any person or entity that has appeal or prelim tear negative deck to the planning commission that has been upheld by the commission for any person or entity that can provide proof that the planning department or other department has issued an exemption. the following deadline currently with interim procedures, we don't have anything specific in the municipal codes on ceqas. so there's no deadline on ceqa appeals, and what happens is we

do submit all of the information over to the city attorney's office for timely filing. which takes about three days for them to get back to us so that we can notify the appellant on whether or not their appeal is timely. there's a $500 fee to the planning department for section 31.22 or administration code. we schedule those within 35 days of the date it was filed. the board vote requires six votes to overturn a planning commission or planning department's decision. second type of appeal is the e.i.r., environmental impact reports. major public or private development proposals are planned that could potentially have a significant impact on the physical environment. who may file these appeals are any person or entity that has submitted comments on a draft e.i.r. in writing during the public review period or orally or in writing on a public

hearing. the final deadline, they would be filed within 20 days of the certification of the e.i.r. the c.m.d.'s are also $500, payable to the planning department. we schedule these within 30 days of it being -- it's actually promptly scheduled, but we tickically give about 30 days to ensure all the materials can be part of the packet, so when they do come before the board, enough time for the board of supervisors to actually have enough information to be able to make those informed decisions once they come before the board. but typically, within the 30-day review period. that also requires six votes to overturn the planning department's decision. second type of appeal is the conditional use appeal. the decision of the planning commission, either approving or disapproving an application for reclassification or conditional

use of property is final. that's a valid appeal to the board of supervisors as filed. so any person provided the notice of appeal is subscribed by the owners at least 20% of the land area, 300 feet of all exterior boundaries, a subject of the application, or 300 feet of all extooryor boundaries for the property, for which the conditional use has been approved by the planning commission. this 20% is actually verified by the ed risken, actually, his department overseas, and verifies those 20% and all the signatures that are received for conditional use appeals. that's another $500. and those should be filed within 30 days of the planning commission's action. appeals are scheduled before the board within 30 days of the date of the appeal. and six votes are required to approve, or eight votes on the board of supervisors to overrule the conditional use.

and lastly, we have tentative maps. tentative maps refers to a map made for the purpose of showing the design and the existing conditions in and around it. any tenant in a property for which a conversion is proposed or other than respect to a conversion for which a tentative map is not required, or any person who owns property within 30 feet of a proposed subdivision. appeal must be filed within 10 days of release of the decision of the director of public works. a $280 fee for that. and appeals are scheduled before the full board within 30 days of the date of the appeal. and this is a requirement to overturn the decision. included in your packet, i have given you the procedures for filing ceqa appeals, as well as all the specific code sections relating to all the other appeals.

and i am available to answer any questions that you have. president o'brien: thank you very much for that informative presentation. i have ones who actually received a negative declaration one time. can you help me understand what i got? it was good news, if i can remember, but if you can just define that term. because it's confusing for ming negative declaration. >> i'll bring mr. sider up from the planning commission to talk about that. other than the process getting filed with the board of supervisors, i don't have any of the information regarding decks, any of those other terms that are used when they're actually giving and making those decisions. president o'brien: maybe that's probably better off putting aside. i'm kind of interested in the appeals, to stick on that particular point.

so any project of any size, is there any distinction between any of these types of appeals as to what size the project needs to be before they could be forced up to the board of supervisors as an appeal, or can it just be -- if it's a two-unit, vertical horizontaled a dig, or if it's a 30-unit or bigger project, could they all be appealed on the same basis without exception for size or anything like that? >> if there's been a determination by the planning department on ceqa, they can be appealed to the board of supervisors. in regards to any of the review and approval process, that happens at the planning commission, i don't have any information on that. and i would suggest mr. sider add that to his list for when you guys have your joint meeting. president o'brien: right. is there a reason why the requirements for overturning a decision is different for one of them? >> it's actually specific in the code section, which is attached in the packet that i gave you. if it's a conditional use

appeal, it does require a super majority, which is the eight votes to overturn. all the others are a simple majority. a simple six votes would overturn. president o'brien: you may or may not know. it's not necessarily that you should know, but do you know yourself why the code was written to make it different? >> i honestly have no idea. but that is a recurring code section. president o'brien: do you find that the -- because the discussions that i had with a few people that's kind of prompted me to consider a discussion on this item, that some of the projects may get brought before the board of appeals, they're on technical issues. i think in one conversation it was indicated to me that there was a project that was not major, was not a huge impact kind of a project on the city

or whatever, and there were some matters that were really technical in nature rather than the way it would affect the local community. it was more about the technical nature of it. and if somebody appealed the decision that was made, because for technical reasons they said they couldn't grant the project for technical reasons, and they would have to appeal it to the board and that it took more votes and another appeal situation to overturn what was already decided by the lower authorities. maybe the planning commission or whatever other agency it might be. if you can understand my question. >> i understand your question. but again, it's really on the review and approval process that you're asking about and not specific to -- you know, we adhere to our government code and our municipal code sections, which requires what our vote

getting to that end goal is what's important for the board, whether they're going to uphold that position or going to overturn that position. president o'brien: i apologize for being a bit -- not as prepared as i'd like to be, but i think the specific incident that was being mentioned to me is, in order for cases to get appealed, it can be overturned easier. some of these projects may come up, they're being appealed because the planning department's decision was, as an application of ha the code says, it was for technical reasons, and there was a higher margin in order to get them to get that

appeal overturned, than for other types of appeals. there were more votes needed to overturn that decision, and what he was saying was sometimes today were just technical reasons really that were involved rather than real big impact on the local community. but that's kind of what we're trying to find out why that is. it sounds like that's in the code and it's written that way in the code. and maybe we need to look at the code the next time and have a -- some understanding or discussion about if the code could be used to work better or something. that's what it's getting at. but thanks for the presentation. >> you're very welcome. president murphy: commish? >> i see the categories on see qua. they all have filing deadlines.

but on the ceqa cat garies, there's no filing deadline. it basically holds as unlimited on the statute of limitations categories where the state could hold city projects on a mentality, that it keeps the door open to file -- there's no filing deadline. can you elaborate on that? or provide some insight? >> we have nothing specific in the planning code section right now or administrative code section 3116, although there has been legislation that has been introduced, and i currently have been referred back to the land use committee, but there's no specific code requirements setting any deadlines for ceqa appeals, which is why we have these interim procedures, which

are part of your packet. so when those ceqa appeals do get submitted, we submit everything to the city attorney's office and they have three days to be able to inform us whether or not those appellants and appeals were filed timely. but it's interim procedures because there's nothing specifically written in the code currently. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. president murphy: commissioner riley? commissioner riley: as you know, we only hear about experience. it can take months or years to get the permit done. and i know that every situation is different. but let's say in case of a perfect situation, how long should a small business owner -- can expect to get all of this done? >> is the small business order filing appeal? are you talking about the process ifer the review and approval of the planning commission? >> well, both.

maybe mr. cider can answer it as well. >> i think maybe it's something that he can add to the list for that joint meeting that you guys are having. as that list keeps growing. but as far as -- there are specific deadlines on when we actually have to schedule the appeals before the boozer once -- with the board of supervisors. there's a little bit of an allowance. there's 45 days. and they could be continued if the project sponsor and the appellant are all in agreement that, yeah, we're going to continue these items, it still is up to the board. and from a clerk of the board perspective, we still put it on an agenda within the 45 day or the 30 days. but if all parties are in agreement before the board, there will be consideration of continuances. and i have seen them a couple years i've been here working for the board of supervisors several

continuances, but it's always with the commitment and the agreement for all parties. commissioner riley: it could take a while. >> yes. president murphy: any further questions, commissioners? >> thank you very much. president murphy: thank you very much. public comments? commissioner collide? >> excuse me. >> please use your screen if you want to speak. >> i have one question about the waivers, and i notice each of these comes with of waiver. i would like to know what qualifies for a waiver, and the you have information on what

percentage of the total of pills are submitted and with the weavers bowman -- total of appeals are submitted with waivers? >> we submit all of these directly to the planning department, and i suggest you add that to the list. we hand over the checks once they are filed within the time, so what happens is the waivers that it submitted is actually done through the planning department. we do not kick information on our end. each is specifically made out to the planning department.

>> the question is to the planning department. is it on an hourly basis? and a cost recovery model for these appeals. >> i do not know how much fear received of the filing fees. i do not have that information this evening. as far as the planning commission, i do not know how many hours they took to make these determinations. >> i am sorry to interrupt you. the waiver is submitted by the planning department? >> we submit a waiver and the

check to the planning department, and none of that actually filters back to the office. >> thank you. >> i would like everyone to know that they have asked that we speak more clearly into the microphones. >> there are a variety of different appeals. one is the discretionary revere -- review it is one of the best ways to protest a project. i think it is around $30,000 to

compel the profit to be held before the mission. it does not recover staff time. they can often take many hearings and many hours to prepare an analysis and review and analysis. with respect to fee waivers, i believe there are two different ones. one is for individuals but are extremely important. the second is unique to discretionary reviews, perhaps even to see if overviews. -- seat " reviews -- cequa

reviews. >> we are not going to bring up the process tonight. we will bring via a of of the next meeting -- bring that up but the next meeting. public comments? seeing none. >> no public comments. we can move on to item 5, discussion of the procedure and process for a permit pertaining to sidewalk improvements and up graves. a presentation by the bureau of men -- improvements and to upgrade its. >> i would like to disclose to them that i am an employee of the department of public works very good -- of public works.

>> good evening, commissioners. i am the department -- i want to thank the commission for the process. and i have prepared a quick presentation for the commission. the department of public works provides a variety of permits to the public for the construction in the streets.

the department particularly requires these permits related to many building permits. the question from the commission was under what conditions would the department require a permit. this has a station within the department of building inspection, and we are one stationed in the process. in the course of seville during project, the department of public works will review the proposed work and make a determination if there is an impact. we evaluate entrances and exits islam -- and exit relating to the compliance.

the department will also evaluate whether there are new utilities that need to be installed in the sidewalk, and finally, they will evaluate the condition of the sidewalk for the property. is the public works permit integrated? it is part of the process, and it is well-integrated. we tried to evaluate the situation as soon as we get them. there is a question as a degree -- as it relates to the completion of permits from

public works. within the building department, the department of public works is one station within its. for over the counter permits, when applicants come to us, we tried to review the application of immediately. we make sure if there are any conditions, that the applicant be informed and apply to the permit and get it approved. typically if there are no specific issues we can identify in the public right away, we will release it so we can move to the next station within the department. there are situations where a building permit