carbon hepa filters. >> i can see you want to say something, but give us our due, please. >> sure. >> the other issues raised by thezining administrator with respect of the changes of use through the period are troubling to me and i think further time is needed to review those issues as with the. anyone else? i will take a short comment. >> thank you, if we're going to have a continuance and new submittal, i think that favorness dictate that we have public testimony open. >> absolutely. >> we would like to get copies of plans in advance of the hearing so my client has an opportunity. >> we haven't made a determination what we are going to do yet. >> you can tell that we're

leaning in that direction. >> i am asking respectfully that if you do decide to go that direction that we -- we spent a lot of time and effort and a lot of money has gone into presenting these issues and the only reason this has been caught is because of the efforts of my client. >> we understand. >> we would like the opportunity to comment meaningfully. >> for some reason if information is not properly exchanged in advance with due time, we wouldn't have the hearing. >> thank you very much for considering my request. >> and inspector duffy? >> and the permit holder. >> i am concerned about the existing construction in the

light well. if there is some way to get it out of the way until this is resolved so it won't cause egress problems. i am concerned about egress. >> can you help me understand the extent to which the construction has already taken place? how much effort would it take to take it down? >> i don't think it would take more than a day or two to take it down. it's a big shaft that is taking up way too much room in the light well and i have concern and i think housing does as well. when people who live in a building, they would have had a couple of weeks before the suspended permit. it was issued at the end of august, the 20st of august and supposed september 14th. leaving it until this could be

another few months it troubles me that we have a light well with egress windows >> thank you for raising that. >> president hwang and commissioners in the past when there is a life safety issue dbi has been allowed to authorize work to take place to resolve the life safety issue. >> yes. >> so i think that authority already exists with dbi, if there is a concern about egress, they would have the authority to have that addressed even though the permit is suspended. >> okay. >> >> i am the project sponsor. as you noticed they jumped to the conclusion before you gave the vote. this is the mentality to rush of the tenant, to rush whoever is front of them.

supervisor wiener asked can you help and i said sure. if you look at the screen over here, it shows the blower on top of the roof. that is a humungous blower, the blower we're using is a mushroom type. it's only 100-pounds, sitting on the metal going across the width of the building. so there would be no vibration. >> what are you showing us a picture of? >> the blower. >> some other blower. >> okay. we gave you an opportunity. >> and this is the construction -- this is the construction well that has to be removed. >> okay. >> i don't think -- >> if dbi deems that to be a life safety issue and we're

assuming that we're going to continue the matter, dbi has the authority. and robert wong was running the department of building inspection. i hired him and he said he would love to help us resolve this problem. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> how much time do you folks need? >> i would start right away on the design work. >> that is not what i asked. >> how many months (how much ? >> how much time do you need? >> i would say to design it or to finish it? design it? a month, month and a half. >> your permit submittal. >> i think we would need 2-3 months. >> madame director, when would you like to move it to?

>> march 6th would be 3 months and march 20th is another option. >> okay. march 6th,perhaps. >> march 6th. >> the date works. we object just for the record that this board is going to act for the fire department. i think what you are doing is inappropriate and we object to it. >> march 6th, we will bring the plans before you. >> thank you. >> commissioners i move that we continue this until march 6th. >> and i am just wanting to make clear to all of the partis what submittals if anything that you want to see and in what order? >> limited brief. >> so the submittal by the permit-holder, which would hold whatever revisions that they are proposing, and do you want to pick a page limit?

>> five-page brief. >> 5 pages, would you say two weeks prior to the hearing, and then one week prior for the appellant? >> that is our regular. >> commissioner, would you not want to see if the appropriate departments have signed off on it? >> we would want to see their responses? >> can we ask if there are fire issues that we know that the fire department has reviewed it? >> the fire department doesn't operate under the jurisdiction of the board of appeals. it's an independent state agency and that is why what you are doing is not legally correct. >> what levels of review are going to occur? >> i think it's the building department that mostly refers the jobs tot to the fire department. >> that is my understanding, but i would like to hear it from the building department. >> i'm sorry i was in discussions with mr. sanchez, while you were speaking. what is the question, the review of

the perimeter? >> it would be the building department or mechanical plan check for the california mechanical code and then the building code as well, which would be building department plan check. for any of the penetrations through 1r rated construction and you also have the san francisco fire department plan check, and inspections as well after the permit is issued. >> okay. >> i think that is about it. >> i understood this continuance also to be for purposes of allowing planning to review and determine whether the proper permits were issued for purposes of the changes of use. >> the health department also reviewed it and the planning department also reviewed this permit that is under appeal tonight. so it did get routed through. >> i'm talking about the uses and the questions that were raised. is that clear?

>> scott sanchez planning department, it's my understanding that it would allow us to review at building department whether or not all appropriate changes had occurred. and also to allow for the new plans for something that would comply with codes for the ventilation? >> correct. thank you. >> just to clarify this, the type 1 hood is the fire department and change of use for the occupancy would not be fire department review. >> correct. >> so there is a motion on the floor to continue this matter until march 6th, 2013 to allow time for a lot of people to do a lot of different things, which i will make sure is clearly articulated in the minutes and i think the board understands all the different responsibilities. president hwang? >> aye commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> commissioner lazarus? >> aye. >> and commissioner honda? >> aye.

>> that motion carries and this item will be carried to the date with the briefing as specified. we're going to take a short break. [ gavel ] >> welcome back to the december 5th, 2012 meeting of the san francisco board of directors of appeals and we're calling items 8a and 8b, 8a is appeal no. 12-124 at property 690 post street and b3 is apole 12-125 at 642 jones street. both filed by courtney utt and

proficienting the issuance of permits to alter a building, installation of a gate between 691 post and 642 jones in front of an alley. per cal this is on for hearing today and we'll start with miss utt, you have 14 minutes to present your case. you don't need to take all 14 minutes, but you can if you want it. [ inaudible ]

>> go ahead. >> i would like to ask that a few things be done, if you do keep it. i'm sorry. i can start over. my name is courtney and i live at 691 post. i am asking for full revocation of the alley gate. however, if the board is not inclimbed to do that absent revocation i would like following conditions imposed on the gate. i'm going to show a diagram here. i will probably have to shift it a few times. the drawing on the projector, it would be -- let's see, it would be great if the door on the gate here is currently on the right side, which is on the

642 jones site for handicapped accessibility with the curbs that are currently in and i will get to those pictures, if it was actually on the left side, so i could wheel into the entrance here. so put the gate here. put the door here, so i can access this side. the door on the gate, i would like for it to open both inward and outwards, so if i'm being dropped on the outside of the gate or if i'm leaving the allowe to push it outwards. this is gate here, again. in order to have that, the gate needs to be moved into the alley, so that the door can open out properly. the other issue with that then is that the door, if it were to move inward would cover a window and possibly a door on 691 post.

the upper gate lock in center of the gate, this one here. needs to be lowered so that it can be accessible, if i am in a wheelchair. right now you have to be standing in order to grab that. i would like to have the circular hole on the upper gate lock removed so you cannot put a lock on it, so it's still openable by anybody, not just maintained by one person with a key. i would like a call box, an automatic gate opener installed so medical transport can pick me up and drop me off, especially at 6:00 to be able to call up to me. something, like you would have on a front door on the building, so somebody could call me on my phone and i can buzz them in and this way i can open the gate for someone coming to pick me up.

and something beyond handicapped, a sign on the inside of the gate showing that the gate is a fire exit and to have a light on the sign. because right now there is no fire exit information on the gate. so no. 2, as i might have been over with you all before, and i'm going to put another picture down here. i have brain cancer. i was diagnosed last september, september, 2011. here is an mri picture of my tumor on this side here i'm pointing at. this is me a year later. it hasn't shrunk enough and we're considering having a live awake surgery and i'm still in talks with my neurosurgeon and oncologist how to schedule this. this is why i'm now handicapped.

i'm on this drug -- i have been on it for 13 months and still continuing treatment. here is a copy of my email from my neurosurgeon's assistant, regarding scheduling, speaking with my neurosurgeon and oncologist about that surgery and here is a copy of any disabled parking placard. i am officially disabled. the reason that any neurosurgeon requested that i be a[wa-eub/] to reduce the possibility that any body functions will be inhabited as removing parts of my brain. should this happen it could take 13 months of therapy, while some patients are not able to walk again. further i have found most

people with my particular type of brain cancer -- i learned just two weeks ago that my neurosurgeon that i will need a biopsy each time my cancer shows regrowth in order to determine my medical options. each time i have surgery i am at higher risk to lose my ability to function. hence while i'm pre-planning handicapped entrance. additionally the reason i do have this handicapped permit, i know i look okay now, but when i was first diagnosed i had a grand malseizure and my driver's license was revoked for six months. i now have it back since and if i have another grand malseizure

it will be revoked again. i do not own a car, so people have to pick me up and take me to my doctor's appointments. i am on chemo, and this has been a long night for me. something else that happened after i filed this appeal on october 11th, the bar on the bottom of the gate was removed. so i heard some noise in the alley and i looked out my window and there was a worker here removing the bar from the gate. i have put a picture. so here is the bar in the back of the truck and here is the workman removing the bar underneath the door to make it handicapped accessible. this was done after i filed the appeal. it wasn't done by the teem they had the permit approved. so the gate was not made handicapped accessible. now i have found that when the gate is closed after 6:00 p.m., it is unstable. so if i open

the door it's not as easy of an opening as it used to be and if i open the gate, it actually falls to the ground, because now that that bar is gone, the structural stability of the gate is gone. it's hanging from the top hinge, not both hinges, the top and bottom, so the gate actually falls and hits the ground on the center. i have a video of that, if you would like me to show it. the other thing, too, if i open the gate and the door is otherwise the door also shifts. the door on the gate can't close either. let me pull those. so here is the gate open. and it's stuck on the ground here, and then this doesn't close properly either.

you can see it also better here. and here, this is after i have opened the gate and i'm trying to close it again. it doesn't align and i have to pull it back up myself in order to get the push bar back in. i have some daytime pictures as well. when the gate is open, you can see here. this part is raised, and that is because of the angle of the alley here. and that spart is the part that falls and hits the ground, because this bar is no longer there. in regards to moving the gate back, it would be here. this is unit 1's entrance. so the gate would be here and go outward, not inward. so it would take up that same space.

this is the other side. if the door were to open in and out, it would start encroaches here and same thing on the other side of the alley. i have more pictures of the alley, so you can see the space. this is 642 jones. this is 691 post. this is avis. and this is looking outward from the alley and this is the back entrance of 691 post, handicapped accessible is not activated and this is the ramp that would open it to the back. something else that i have noticed over the months and i think i brought up at the first hearing is that there is a san

francisco patrol special police person, a car that is parked blocking the alley, parked parallel to the curb, blocking the entrance to the alley after hours, late at night and i think they are hired by 642 and 620 jones. sometimes that car is left unattended, and the security person can be found hanging out in the lobby of 620 jones. so if i need to be dropped off, the handicapped access and that car is blocking the alley, do i need to go to 620 jones to find the security person to move the car? it's not always like this, but many times, and i have pictures of that as well. the car with no person inside of it. and i think that is it for now. thank you. >> thank you. so we can hear

from the permit-holder for hawthorne stone, is there anybody here representing that company? please step forward? >> hi, thanks for letting me speak. i am also the resident manager. >> would you state your name your name? >> my name is chuck drese and i'm representing hawthorne/stone in this matter. i have been a resident manager there -- i have been with hour hawthorne/stone for 18 years in different buildings and i have been in this particular build for close to 7.5 years. the alley that adjoins 691 post and 642 jones, i have cleaned

that alley for so many years. everyday it was such an unhealthy situation to lean up everyday. about four years ago i witnessed the new dennis flynn, the new property manager for 642 jones come in and clean up that building. he renovated the building. it took like a year and a half, almost two years and then two years ago, they installed the gate. i was really glad that they did, because it really eliminated a lot of problems and at that point there were not the modifications that there are now. i know there are different modifications that miss utt is

talking about, but overall there are 36 units in my building. 25 residents of 691 post want keys to the gate and they have keys. over the last two months i have distributed that. there are 11 units that don't care about it. they use the front door. if they want to use the backdoor, and they want to go out of the backdoor, the back gate, they can easily access going out. if they wanted to transport furniture or something, they could open the gate from the inside. they have been offered keys. i know that most of the residents in 642 jones have keys to the gate. i have issued keys to the backdoor for every person that has a key to the gate. i am asking if i could speak for the seven minute because i'm also representing hawthorne/stone and also representing the building and

also a resident of the building. over the last few hearings, the gate has been required to be opened at 6:30 in the morning or 7:30 in the morning and closed at 6:30 at night. this hasn't stopped the activity during the day. it's still going on. i don't want to gross you out what actually has to be cleaned out back there, but it's still going on. i don't understand why the gate has to be opened, if keys are issued. we don't keep our front gate open. nobody keeps their front door open. they have easy access. there is a key to the gate. there is a lot of gated alleys. this isn't a through street. it's just an alley. from my understanding, the fire department and the department

-- the city have approved the new adjustments to the gate. i am not sure what has to be done to make peace with this gate. i don't understand why people want junkies in the alley or people going to the bathroom in the alley or having sex in the alley. the solution seems to be to modify the gate to make everybody happy. i wish this came to a close. it's really frustrating, and i work very hard to keep this building clean. i mean it's 36 units. it's an old building and i have had to escort homeless people because the gate is opened during the day. people have gotten into the building and camped out in the

pg&e room. it's a room that people used to have to go down to do their circuit breakers and now they are in their apartments. they have repeatedly kept croming back and now i finally put a lock on the door. but i mean, it's for the safety. it's for safety. i just want to see everyone get along with this, to tell you the truth. i don't understand it and i'm not singling anyone out and everybody has their opinion and i'm sorry that courtney is sick. i have my own issues and i'm not going to bring up to you

today, but i have a life-threatening illness that i have dealt with since 1987, but i'm not here to say that. i'm sorry that she is sick. i wish that, you know, nobody got sick. i wish that we could all just get along. that is all i have to say. >> thank you. thank you. we can hear now from the agent for the permit-holder for the other appeal 12-125, elizabeth apartments. is there someone here to speak on that? you have seven minutes. >> dennis flynn for 642 jones, is that correct? >> i