26 building permits for a house. and here is the start, so, this year in june a building permit was filed and a one dollar permit to renew a permit that renewed the 97 permit that you guys revoked and this permit was filed by majestic and the building department before we had any involvement properly caught it and said, wait a second here, you are renewing a revoked permit, you can't do that, the board revoked a permit and they revoked it the project sponsor also pulls a permit to renew drainage, a one dollar permit. and which is one dollar permit he proceeds to dig 15, 20 yards of dirt out on a hillside this deep in a known land slide zone the project gets ahead of him and he rushes into the building department and says oh, my god

i destabilized the hillside and you need to give me an emergency permit and they did the only thing necessary that they had to give them a building permit and the client found out about it and we got involved within one week we had meetings with them, and we said, great, if you want to do a tie back design, fine, do a tie back design and be aware that you are going to put the tie backs under these 100 foot tall pines and if you destabilize the trees they are going to wipe out our house because we are in the fall zone and they immediately revised the design and come up with a new design. during this period we say start digging and get ahead of the winter and they start digging and we mention to them, why don't you protect the hill because if it rains it is going to wipe out our house, what is interesting is that in your package they did not give you all of the drawings, they only gave you one sheet and there are two sheets and they have

filed a revision permit to change the design that we are okay with this and we have a fundamental problem though. is the project sponsor does not want to comply with the rules. and the building department is said as soon as you get the three pits in, and there are five, you are stopping the job and we are going to send you to a structural advisory committee and we want to make sure that what you have done is not destabilize the hill and secondly, there is a garage permit from 16 years ago that does not exist. and either, react ate the variance or get a variance that you do not need parking and the last thing that we want is the committee looking at pieces of the hill, if you want to build a garage, great, but you have to integrate the garage foundation with the retaining wall foundation and you are stuck with the retaining wall we don't like it and we are below it but you got to put it in so let them put it in and we asked the board to take the

jurisdiction and continue the case to april and the building department will let them put in a portion of the wall enough to stabilize the hill so that we can get through the winter and pour a section of walt and the planning department is going to step in and let them speak for themselves about dealing with the garage and have you guys force them to coordinate the garage issue with planning, the building, and the hill issue with the building department and the structural advisor committee with a contractor that just does not want to follow the rules that pulling permits when they say that there is no work and so we asked the board to help out and get in front of this and get it straight. thank you. >> we can hear from the mer permit holder.

>> good evening. my name is brent sxh i am the contractor. i inherited this project december of 2012. from a client that i asked to sort out the amount of building permits that were taken out for a period of ten years. and so on december of 2012, the dbi and i sat down, and we went through all of the building permits. of 26, permits which were plumbing electrical and it took many scopes of work and we came up with 8 permits. and out of those 8 permits, i am the one who mistakingly took one permit because one permit

was based on the administrative view. and that is where the dollar came in and actually, the drainage and the irrigation was not the case. it was drainage. and excavation, and that portion was never completed from 2000 from the time that it took out the permit to the present. and so, in june of this year, because of my issues, the a group, of guys went and dug out or take a portion of the area which is not on the drawings, the drawings of the actual drainage permits which was designed and approved starting

with 2001, 2003, 5 permits up to 2009 frp taken out to install this particular drainage and excavation, and as i said it was completed. and so, actually, and the reference. >> yeah. >> okay. this is the property, yes, and he owns two lots, and but the property in question, and the area in question, is this parcel right here. and this parcel, is the pulling apart, or the part that will eventually have a single car garage, 18 feet wide attached directly to the house which is not quite the way that i do not have the other drawing that the appellant shown but any way, it is not quite the size and the changes were made. and i was trying to dig out the

architect who designed this change, and he lives in vegas and so he was not very helpful for me when i was doing the research on these documents and then the one that approved and the civil engineer that would try at home and stamp the drawing for an open design of drainage, throughout the property. and this is three feet wide and that is what they wanted to have, and in this parcel. and right here, along the fence line, zig sagging across the open 7,000 feet area all the way down and going into an existing sewer. and now, the drawings, that patrick had, they did not know that. and but i am showing you now.

but these were the original drawings, for the purpose of the drainage and to be excavated. and we the guys, we started on this side, yes. and we dug exposed a 3 foot beam, 35 foot long and five foot wide area as the photograph shows. and now, that is the area that was exposed. and when that happened, i did not run to the building department, i called a soil engineer and a called a structural engineer, and asked them to help me establish a guideline and establish what needs to be done and they came up to the design that i then took to the building department and i, that is at that time, the building department, because of the initial one of five building permits which

were originals, and assessed to this drainage, design, and i went to the building department and said, do i need to have the same drawings that you have here revised and the building department said, no, you need to have all new drawings. so yes, we came up with all new drawings and, all new drags were, and there were two things. and this design, this design of the open drain, and this drain of v, and because of the three foot tie, we are making a four-foot high, retaining wall. and tied together and digging it inside, and at one point,

the initial, were that we had ties in the soil. and when we had a job site meeting between the appellant and engineers, and the building inspecters and the appellants that you are damaging the trees, well these trees are on the property, that belongs to my client. and so, at that point, the building department, and the inspector and i decided that we are going to call an arborist in to get a professional opinion in who came the next day and explained to us that the roots of the trees go uphill when the roots are setting in the slope, and the slope is 1.5 to 1. and it is steep but it is not, it is taken and we can walk down and we could say that it was stuck in the trees and he did say in a letter, in my belief to you that the area

should be closed and used for the backfill and whatever is there should be having the same soil. okay? bottom line, is, in november we could have been when we started this and you know, we said, okay, we lost very precious time at this point, we could have been done, and we have in conjunction with the building department and the engineers guidance and we dug three holes and we are done, and we are ready to pour and we still have this appeal which stops us to finish it. >> okay, your time is up. >> i am sorry, this is my first time. >> that is okay, sure. >> mr. duffy. >> mr. duffy before you start, yes. >> let me add a side bar, the

briefs that were presented and the testing that was presented so far, i was still confused. >> i was going to say. >> and you know, that i read them enough times that i tell you, none of it is clear, >> no. >> and so i hope that you will take that into consideration and explain it to us appropriately. >> you took the words out of my mouth and i am going to try to simplify it if i can and we have to work at dbi and the senior building inspector for the area and he would have been here for a while, but he is going to come here tonight to speak about it and we had several meetings and working closely in the last few weeks and we have also been in contact with the staying with the board about this case, and it is on that hillside, there is a process, and that needs to be take place, prior to the issuance of any permits or any work, i believe that some work started in the middle of the

year. and the permit holder ended up with a building department and he needed to get an emergency permit and it was work that we wanted to get done before the rainy season and we wanted to go with that work and the permit got appealed and he was right to appeal the permit. he is concerned about it, and the people living below and down at the bottom of the hill and had concerns about that. so, what i think actually simple enough that if we could i know that the building department wants this, and we are even with the three piers that they are working on as we speak and i think that i am going there tomorrow for an inspection and we want to get the pire.s done and the wall done and the backfilling done and then we are stopping all of the work and we are going to make them get through the proper review that this should have went through any way, and we are putting them back to the pier review because of the slope protection act. and so, that is if we sum and

condition the permit, that all of these permits must go through a pier review that should satisfy both sides, i spoke to the permit holder and he is okay with it and i think that the issue is the parking from the planning department and i believe that cory is going to speak about that. but, it is not any simpler han what you have heard before? >> but that could also be handled since it is an emergency order it could be handled by a continuance. >> if the building department and allow, certain types of emergency work. >> it could be handled by a continuance. >> yes, it could be, and i will tell you at that time, where we can report back with where we are with that and we could even start the pier review if that would be okay with the board on the suspended permit, we want to send that for a review. >> okay. >> sure. >> and i think that probably

continuance is a good idea. >> okay. >> and cohen suggested april, i believe, is that? >> yeah. well, it is going to be, we are going to be finished or we, but the work that the phase of the work that we want done is going to be completed next week if not the following week. >> you would not need a continuance that long. >> i don't know what the reason for that is. >> okay, we will hear more later. >> mr. duffy, how long will it take for the committee to review this? >> that is a good point, that could take a while and that could be a few months, i would need to go back to the building department for that and they will have to put a building committee together and that is by done by the building department and one of the managers in the and he is a structural engineer and he is going to put a committee together and review that, and so it might need some time. >> okay. >> and you know, to be honest, there was not a whole lot done for a number of years and a lot of these building permits that are issued are to close out

permits, i believe for work that was done and if that work was done and these most of the permits that we are talking about the rest of this year, are good permits and they need to clean up the addition and they need to do that and they can keep and work on that and get those done and in my opinion if the work done and a one dollar permit does not permit you to do any work, it is just an administrative permit that shows an expired permit. and they can work on that and we would be happy to work with them on that. >> thank you. >> mr. teague? >> good evening, commissioners cory for the planning department staff and just to go back to 1997, 2000 there was a permit in 97 and a board of appeals case in 2000 on that permit where the board of appeals did rule that the schedule of work had been

exceeded and that part of that work was the removal of the one existing off street parking space and in the garage, which was removed, and without authorization, and it did require that parking space to be back for the project to meet the planning code which resulted in a notice of special restrictions being recorded on the property. and in conjunction with a building permit to correct the violation, and which basically stated that for a period of a year, the project sponsor may obtain the off street parking through a nearby property. and in the meantime, they would file a permit to construct a new garage or otherwise provide the required off street parking space, which would require a variance, the project sponsor did that in 2000 and the building permit to construct the garage and a variance

application was filed and the variance was approved and the building permit was approved, and issued, and however, and that was in 2000, and 2001, however, the building permit was canceled, and december in 2004, due to inactivity. the client that work on that case is no longer with the department and it is unclear why exactly that permit was canceled and why no new permit was required or followed up on. and having said that, it is a clear that the conditions that nsr, and the original board decision have not been met. and the planning department will move forward on that as an enforcement action to ensure that the project sponsor regardless of the out come of this appeal will be required to either provide the required off street parking or get a variance to not provide that parking if they can justify that so to that end, the

department is mutual to the issue of this appeal and whether it is continued or not continued. and we will deal with this situation, again, as an enforcement of the original, decision, and the original nsr that was recorded on the property that has not been met. and with that, i can take any questions that you have. >> is there any public comment on this item? >> please step forward. >> my name is nancy cokes and unfortunately i leave on the other side of mr. fujii's lot. and i never know what to expect when i get up. he has so many building permits and when i called the building department, they don't know which one he is working off of either. and when i called because they were trenching down the hill,

four trenches, okay? going down that we are about three feet deep and that is like a 60-foot long lot and this is edge hill and we are not talking about dirt, we are talking about boulders, i watched his work people fall down the hill. and when they dug out the dirt from behind maria's house they just threw it down the hill. now they try to repair it. by covering it up. and that is basically what they did. the man is just a menace and he is dangerous. thank you. >> sure. >> any other public comment? >> okay, and then we will take rebuttal from the appellant. >> >> let me make it clear that this is exactly what we want. we want tomorrow to pure the three pits and then do a structural advisement committee to look at what they did at the

wall and whatever they say in april, after it rains, they can finish the wall and in addition, there is a carport right here. and you see that they are going to build it, and if they are going to build it, they need foundation, and a structure advisory committee for that. and this foundation for the garage and here is the wall that they are talking about overlaps. and so we asked the board to continue the case, with your jurisdiction so that in the next three or four months we can have a committee figure it and everything that we can do once and for all, they can work out with planning by parking or not once and for all and starting in the summer, next year, build whatever they want, with the structure and the committee blessing and be done with it. and we have to look below this and it has been a journey to get the project sponsor to agree to do a structure advisory committee.

and their idea that this was a normal course, when the building permit issues and emergency permit, it is bad and so we just ask that the board take jurisdiction, and continue it to april with your authority and force the project sponsor to deal with the planning and the building department and the structure and advisory committee so that these people have a safe house to live in and don't have to wake up every moerk *f morning and say what is in world is happening above us. >> any rebuttal in the permit holder? >> i have no issues with what did the dbi discusses i don't see anything wrong with it, at the time that i inherited this, i was not aware of issues with the, or of the structure advisory committee at that time.

and none of the earlier permits, that i have had a notification on it. and on the permit, that it was a slight area. and apparently it was, so ordered and in 2002, and then, i see that the permits were given on the drainage up to the 2003, 2005, and 2009 and so at leaves me a little confused if there is no area and so why did we get permits in the past? >> and now, we have this area, yes? and i am a menace that she referred to but i also recognize that there was a problem and i stopped and i got the proper people out there to resolve the issues. and therefore i am willing to work with dbi in every aspect that they decide, as far as the garage and the retaining wall, two sets of issues and two separate walls and two structures the rooms do not tie together. and there is a difference of

area. and it does not take on the job site, thank you. >> thank you. >> anything further from the departments? >> no. okay. commissioners the matter is submitted. >> i gave the wrong... yeah. >> we have a rec menlded course of action. >> yeah, but i would like to say a little bit of something. a lot of these are issues that the building department needs to address and take care of. and i'm not prepared in the future if this comes back, to take care of administrative aspects of the permit history. i think that the department needs to go through those things there and i am not going to condition our actions to take care of what somebody wants or not wants. okay? >> and we have a motion. >> okay. >> i move to continue this to...

>> april, madam director? >> april ninth or 16th. >> we have the meeting. >> what would you recommend? >> there is nothing on the calendar at that time. >> so. >> april 9th. >> okay. >> okay, so if the continuance to april 9th, is to allow time for the structure advisor committee to review the proposed work. and also, to allow the work that dbi believes is necessary to abait the emergency, >> and so i would rather state that it is to allow for dbi to formulate what emergency work needs to be done and what processes needs to be followed based upon their requirements. >> okay. >> i am not requiring them to go through the group. >> but you are beyond formulating what the emergency work is, that emergency work will proceed in this interim? >> that is correct.

>> yeah. >> okay. >> okay. so perhaps then commissioner fung this will be to allow dbi to formulate and have the permit holder carry out what the emergency work that the dbi seems necessary and what additional process is necessary. >> are necessary. >> to finalize the permit. >> yes. >> are necessary by the department. >> right, okay. >> on that motion, then, from commissioner fung, to continue this matter to april 9th, 2014. president hwang? >> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> vice president lazarus? >> aye. >> commissioner honda. >> aye. >> thank you. >> the vote is 5-0, this matter is continued to april 9th. 2014. >> thank you. >> okay, so we are going to

return then to item number 7 appeal number 13-141. and we have a representative from the appellant and... >> is there someone on behalf of the permit holder? >> thank you. >> i would like to hear what happened in the hallways, please. >> we discussed it and we talked about the 20 weeks that we need, to replace the foundation, there is no way that this can be done in four to six weeks, no way. and they don't want to allow us to be on the property. for 20 weeks, they think that is too long and we can't do that so we don't have an agreement out here. >> okay. >> thank you. >> back to our do you have anything to add, mr. santos. >> i am disappointed. one item that i would like to if i may, my understanding is that their insurance company

has agreed to a 1.8 million dollar payment to replace the foundation. that covers the tenants at the fair month for a while. >> okay. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> so back to our original motion. so we are going to deny the appeal. >> yes. >> on the basis that the city departments issue the permits correctly? >> yes. >> okay. >> and i am afraid that all that we can do. >> yeah. >> and we tried. >> okay. >> we have a motion then from commissioner honda, and again, this is appeal 13-141 item 8. and to deny the appeal and up hold the permit. on the basis that this permit was issued correctly. >> on that motion, commissioner fung? >> aye. >> president hwang

>> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> and vice president lazarus. >> aye. >> thank you, the vote is 5-0, and this permit is upheld on that basis. >> okay, with no further business, the meeting is adjourned.

>> good morning, today is wednesday, december 18, 2013, this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission, i would like to remind everyone for turn off all aoe electronic devices the first item on the agenda is roll call. >> president mccarthy? >> here. >> vice president mar? >> here. >> commissioner clinch? >> here. >> commissioner lee? >> here. >> commissioner mccray. >> present. >> commissioner melgar. >> yes, here. >> and commissioner walker >> here. we have a quorum and the next item is item two, president's announcements. >> we are having a quick meeting and so i am going to pass on the announcements, >> thank you, sure. >> next item is three, general public comment, the bic will take public comment on matters in the juic