>> welcome to the january 21, 2015, of the san francisco board of appeals the presiding officer is commissioner president lazarus joined by commissioner fung and commissioner honda and commissioner bobbie wilson's there's a seat vacate pursuant to the charter when a vacancy exists the board may overrule the boil omi by a vote of 3 members the t to my left is ryan and at the controls mr. pacheco the boards legal assistant and i'm sgnlz we have scott sanchez did zoning administrator representing the planning department and practicing those and he'll be joined by mr. duffy representing the building inspection and also joined by the senior planned checker

representing the street use and mapping mr. pacheco if i could go over the boards guidelines and conduct the swearing in process arrest at board requests i turn off outline cell phones and pagers please carry on conversations in the halfway the departments representatives each has 7 minutes to present their case and 3 minutes for rebuttal people affiliated must conduct their minutes to 3 each has up to 3 minutes but no reluctant for participant affiliated members of the public who wish to speak on an item asked but to the required to submit a business card when you come up to the podium speaker cards and pens are available on the lsd left side of the podium there or

customer survey forms on the left side of the 30u78d if i need a rehearing or schedules please speak to board staff during the call the boarding board office on mission street room 304 this meeting is broadcast live on sfovtd cable channel 78 and dvds are available for purchase directing directly from sfgovtv thank you for your attention we'll conduct our swearing in process if you intend to testify and wish to have the board give you our testimony evidentiary weight please stand and say i do please note that any member of the public may speak pursuant to their rights under the shorns thank you

do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth? there we go do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> thank you thank you mr. pacheco item one on the boards agenda for general public comment this is for anyone that wishes to speak on the board jurisdiction not on the calendar this evening any general public comment seeing none the second item is commissioners questions or comments. >> commissioners? >> okay. then the third item on the agenda is the boards consideration on possible adaptation of the minutes of the boards january 14, 2015, meeting any additions dleeksz or changes may i have a motion to approve as submitted. >> so moved okay public comment on the minutes? seeing none, then mr. pacheco if you could call the roll please

arrest there's a motion on the floor from commissioner fung to adapt the january 14, 2015 minutes on that motion to adapt commissioner president lazarus commissioner honda commissioner wilson thank you. the vote is 4 to zero those minutes are adapted >> thank you item 4 abc will be heard together appeals numbers all filed by julian against presidents board of appeals and mapping protesting the arresting borrow well, i know i know the addresses are 831 to 4180 one1 on gonzales drive we'll start you with sir you have 21 minutes if

you need them. >> thank you, mr. goldstein i don't tipped to use all the minutes i think most of the commissioners maybe half of the commissioners have heard this case before i was before this board back if 2013 appealing the tree removals on park merced i'm here to appeal the occupation of the streets in mrashgd to remove those trees i'm here commissioners this company which is the contractor for park merced has a history of having accidents when they remove trees we had an accident in january of

2013 where a worker for or borrow well, was removing a tree 20 feet from where i live the limb of the tree fell and injured the worker so this was near a bus stop and at the time the removals stopped and the worker was taken to the hospital and the tree was left hanging by it's limbs incredibly and it was not removed for at least 6 months there was a serious accident cal osha fined or well and cited them since then we've been cynical about or wells work in park merced in this particular case an 80 foot

monterey pines on 3 residential streets in parking merced their at all and have many branches we believed that it's beyond or borrow wells ability to remove the trees safely so we'd like you to consider that using the crane and using the wood chirp on a residential street is in our opinion a very dangers station wagon tour the visitor to paeshgd and for the workers those works that or borrow we'd like you to consider it in your delegations we have an issue to the tree removal permits for this job we believed

expired in may of 2014 and have not been renewed i've asked so for proof of that from the department of public works and the bureau of urban forest as to whether the tree removal permits are current they've not responded as to this date we'd like you to consider that in our deliberations we don't have proof of the permits for this job another issue is the fact there are supposed to be replanting duplicate for those 3 trees the department of public works judge hearing this particular appeal ordered that there be a 3 to one replanting for those trees that are to be removed we've not seen

any plans from park merced or ash well, if there's going to come prosecute apply i am sure i've with been here before on another particular tree removals we've not gun control a confirmation whether or we will or park merced is going to comply with those orders we want you to deliberate on this issue and hold or borrow wells and park merced in following those orders and finally commissioners february through may is mating seen e season for the birds there are birds in those trees and we believe that ash well and park merced are not diligent in really investigating where the birds live and where they fly in park merced and you know we

believe even if you were to uphold those permits the trees not be removed in this particular period of time february through may on that note i'd like to ask you reconsider those permits and deny them on the grounds that ash well has an history of having accidents and park merced there's no prove they have currently tree removal permits. >> i have a question besides the accident in january, i building i mentioned they didn't have the correct number of flagers for the origin is you elaborate on that. >> we've never seen flagers they've removed trees along the

cycle without tree removal permits and there was a dangerous situation that me and one the neighbors witnessed she'll testify there was no flagger a blind person walking along the circle and no flagger me and my neighbor had to intervene. >> is there other circumstances you can remember besides those. >> when they've done their tree removals they've not had flagers we've insisted think that and i've never seen a flagger in my of the park merry that and the other company. >> thank you very much for refreshing any memory. >> okay.

>> we can hear if or borrowarbor. >> hello good evening so i'll have so counteract. >> can you talk directly into the mike please. i'm sorry okay my name is neil account manager are ashrbor well go through the items julian the accidents january 2013 it struck an employee the branch he went to the hospital but was not admitted it was investigated

arbor is it fit to do the removals yes absolutely our crews are fully trained cal osha and the website you can take a look at i'm sure you have already planting and replanting the trees they've not been removed but intend to replant the trees 3 to one basis the bird between february and august it is nesting season and i'll have to do a bird survey to see if there's a nesting which i will do permits the permits i have which were contested for the removal

not the right-of-way the permits were issue on september 14th of last year, i building they're still valid and flagers well, we were here back in last fall because on brotherhood i was to do removals and the permit was being appealed you guys allowed to to happy we went ahead and did the work no issues i think you guys made a point of having public works chuck but out no inadequate cones or flagers that's a number one issue there this is i need the encroachment permits to take those trees down that leaves the one item this

process of trying to prevent the tree removals if park merced is endaring the public your people have told you it needed to happen we're allowing half the trees to sit there it is like russian roulette but you mean someone will get hurt so that's all i have. >> you want to go. >> ghed. >> in response to the injured employee he stated there was a limb that was left half done for 6 months. >> incorrect the tree was limb also. >> in regards to the replacement of the trees that have been removed has there been

trees removed. >> how many trees have you replaced. >> that's an excellent point public works presented park merced with the list of prior removals and basically where's the tree and what happened and park merced provided the utteringers with each the line items. >> the question is how many trees have been replaced. >> everyone that has been removed has best practices retained there's replacement through now the the urban forestry came out and inspected and easter wanted to know where the trees were there been no request from the parks

department there's anything any issue on a formality. >> i have a couple of questions, mr. well in her other than the accident on the 2013 is there any other accidents in that area. >> no. >> are you company that does 9 tree replacement or the street tree tree removal folks. >> i've not done all the replacements a park merced did as to whether the 9 trees in play i've not be contracted to do those replanting and the last question you talked about you'll be required to do the removals what if there's a bird nesting. >> it was specific if their

nesting birds you can't do the removal you can't interfere with the nest. >> you have a window of february and well, that's the nesting period if i do the removals do a survey so there's no nesting birds in this tree go ahead if they say there's a nesting bird you can't. >> so in terms of in theory you have a window of up to january. >> that's a good point the reality is this is not happening it will happen in the bird season yeah. >> thank you okay. >> sir from the department whoever is speaking. >> thank you good evening commissioner president lazarus and commissioners in this case with the map and zoning we

issued this as a temporary occupancy permit to conduct operations for the removal of subject trees section 724 of public works code allows the occupancy of the public right-of-way limited to the sidewalk and the parking lane and all operations have to take place in compliance with the mta blue pro block the regulations for working in san francisco streets that all utilities and private companies must adhere to if they don't adhere they must pull a special traffic permit typically with regards to the appellants testimony co-chair with regards to requiring the flagers based on the occupancy of the sidewalk and the parking lane we don't

typically require flagers as part of the permits i checked with chris broke and he confirmed that no the tree removals were not contingent b upon providing flagers any only i think inclination in arbor gets the permit they may have the permits upon the flargz during the operation. >> public works code does require us to take into account whether arbor has a history of public disregard to public saift or whether they've trained their personnel or cal osha the only

way we retrain tb issuing permits if the incarcerating has an outstanding violation issued by the department of public works during construction during operations took place if anyone has any issues with the way the contractors are performing the work or occupying too much space they are welcome to call our staff we'll send an inspector and cite the contractor if necessary based on this information we believe we've acted properly and those permits and if you have any questions i'll be glad to answer them. >> sir. >> yes. >> is there a coordination between your department when you issued this kind of a permit with the issuance of permits for

the actual removal by the urban forestry and . >> those permits were legal. >> bans my knowledge yes. >> would your did not have track regarding this has been before us several times before. >> i understand that. >> regarding any of the replanting is that your. >> that's under urban forestry. >> is there public comment step forward. >> hi commissioners, thank you i'm diane just in regards to if i can get the overhead in v s ms list of

items needed for permits the caption is covering it it says for tree removal and planting so temporary occupancy permits will be needed for replanting per bs m brochure the other things are i've never seen a bird survey but seen trees taken down on gonzales where i used to live without either temporary permits there was zero notice and actually, they took down an extra tree in that area as i understand it the temporary occupancy permits are for the o one to 811 gonzales this is the arbors application to remove 3

trees on the 18th up there there's one on derivative and 811 gonzales and 741 gonzales two out of the 3 traez they've applied for temporary occupancy permits for development box is not checked i'd like to note that there is on a agreement with the city and arbors all 3 trees were numbered the replacement trees are not being tagged it's not clear who is keeping track of that i've already put if multiple requests to the bureau of urban forestry as well as supervisor yee's office for a reconciliation of that report especially prior to phase one application being approved submitted that i park

merced it's my understanding that park merced has changed ownership by october 31st whereas the applications are being still being submitted under the former business name that's a liability to the city if the applications are not in the correct business owners name i would think i have a million more things to say i'm almost out of time the third tree on the permit was issued a hazardous tree removal not signed by anyone no permit number listed making tracking for that difficult there was - there were temporary occupancy permits for that tree removal but the work extend beyond the permits issued so that was another issue okay sorry thank you.

>> okay. >> okay. >> excuse me. but the notice you just showed us was an address not among the 3 hearings. >> correct only the original application i'm not sure they submitted two of the old trees and different tree on a few occasions i have the permits issued and i've been reconciling with john at the bureau of urban forestry and working with them and the scientific reports we did a survey of gonzales drive where park merced were cited and fined almost $10,000 this is park mercedes response if you want to see it. >> you've answered my question. >> thank you we can take rebuttal sir, you

have 9 minutes. >> and i i won't use all 9 anybody's commissioner i will be restating the similar argument that i made earlier i would like you to consider that both dpw and arbor have yet to provide you or me any evidence they have current permits to remove those trees office of the city administrator those permits are only good for 6 months there's no evidence they have come up with current permits and i think you should consider that and order them to provide the permits here in the public hearing also the the gentleman didn't mentioned and the other gentleman those streets are narrow in park merced no longer

than 20 feet wide i don't know how you can fit the crane and wood chirp and the crew and to a narrow street that's only 20 feet wide and expect it to have a safe operation he didn't mentioned that those streets are narrow the bird survey is he going to undertake a bird survey in the next of you weeks and comply with the bird survey i'm talking about had mr. arbor and if there's birds nesting in the trees are they going to comply with the next 6 months or whatever before they roam those trees those are questions we have to ask ourselves about we conduct business tonight thank you very much for allowing me to be here and appeal those street

permits. >> mr. well in her any rebuttal. >> so the permits the tree remove permits i looked at on the 14th of september 4th months i don't know where that lands me am a good, i think i'm good it's not up for discussion but the bird survey yes i'll conduct the bird survey and yes i'll comply with the findings it is $10,000 if you get caught violating it i have no intention of doing that that's all i can think of. >> thank you mr.les