federal underinvestment in public housing, they've put together a massive plan to utilize the new rental assistance demonstration program, to undertake massive repairs across 29 public housing properties in san francisco. the rental assistance demonstration program did not offer any new funding, but instead flexibility around rules show that cities could utilize creative ways to finance the work. what san francisco accomplished, renovating 3400 homes at a total development cost exceeding $2 billion a true model for the nation. if there is one lesson to be learned from all of this work from me, it is that monumenttal things can be accomplished when an entire community across a all levels of government and with the private sector come together with a shared vision.

it is my tremendous honor to introduce leader nancy pelosi. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you so much for your great leadership and today is a very special day for us personally and officially because of what it means to the residents here. and what it means to the redenlszes here is that they have been treated with great dignity and respect. and having a say in how this place, this wonderful burton manor has been developed, to recognize the leadership of our dearly departed mayor lee with the program working with the then-president of the board of supervise source and now our distinguished mayor of san francisco, london breed, to bring this to fruition. there are many factors at work and you'll hear from folks like the bank of america because

there is a private sector role. beverley will talk to us about her experience here. i just want to talk a moment about john burton, a former member of congress and former president of the california state senate and california -- so many titles. so much commitment -- [laughter] so much commitment to our country. and to this great state of california. someone said to me earlier, i never had -- don, actually, said -i never got to meet her. she was a force in our community for a long time as a member of the team of phil burton, who served in congress for a long time along with his brother john. somuch about, again, the dignity and worth of every person. and always the saying that it really matters that people have

the dignity of the home, the respect we give them and the decency and the -- just dignity of where they live is a sign of how much we connect with them and their aspirations and she was a force in our community. person of deep values who would be so happy -- wouldn't she, john, to see this beautiful place. now we just met the colonel and he showed us his apartment. it's lively and he told me he was his own personal decorator there and that it was an advantage to him that when these apartments were being rehabbed, that he move to a different floor and then came back. but one of the things that we all shared was that we have recognition of people in the

neighborhood to have access to facilities and just keeping some people in the building helped to facilitate that. when a private second is to side, it is really important to note that much of the housing in san francisco, affordable housing that has been developed has been developed because we had a tax code that enabled us to take advantage of the low-housing tax credit. thank you, bank of america, for doing that and being so much a part of this. [applause] that -- [applause] you can ask any of our nonprofits and certainly the tenderloin folks would subscribe to the fact that that public-private partnership was -- has been essential. i have to say sadly that much of that has been diminished in the tax bill that passed last year. in the congress of the united states, signed by the president. and we really have to reverse

that. because it is -- it had been an impetus for us to have more affordable housing now that it is being diminished. but thank you to bank of america for participating, up until now, to make today's if ribbon cutting possible. so you had something to do with it, for-profit wise, and nonprofit-wise in every way and they knew how important our seniors and our people with physical challenges are to our community and how proud she would be to have a facility dedicated to their health, well-being and just the dignity that sala burton would be very proud. thank you for the opportunity to participate today. [applause]

>> it is a huge honor for me and i hope you will join me in giving a warm welcome to our mayor. mayor london breed. [applause] >> it truly is an honor to be here today with people, i think, that are legends in the political world including john burton and leader pelosi and the work that they have done to pave the way for opportunities like this many of you knew i grew up in public housing called plaza east. >> yeah! >> also known as o.c., out of control projects -- [laughter] and it was definitely an out of control experience. we had a lot of challenges and the conditions that i grew up in sadly when i became a member of the board of supervisors were a lot of the same chance too many of our public housing

residents were still living in. i know what it feels like to live with the mold, with broken elevators, with the roaches, with the neglect, with the messed up pipes, the need to use someone else's bathroom on a regular basis because yours didn't work. the bathtub that didn't work. the frustration, the hopelessness and the feeling that nobody cared. and that is why when i became a member of the board of supervisors my first year, i went to mayor ed lee and i said to him, when he asked me what my top three priorities were, i said public housing, public housing, public housing. when you have had to live in the kinds of conditions, sadly, that these buildings that existed in these buildings for over 20 years of your life, you wouldn't think about anything other than making sure that we change those conditions and

immediately, immediately leader pelosi stepped up to the plate to provide the opportunity to work with us down this path. we began work in 2013 as don falk said, we had many fights in the community, talking to people about what this would do. and as i said, i grew up in plaza east. and when plaza east was torn down and rebuilt, my family and i were displaced. we weren't moved on the property. that's why it was so important that we assured the residents that we were going to make sure that they get back into the same unit that they have lived in. that we were going to rehabilitate the unit, move them within close proximity of where they felt so they felt they meant exact little what we said they were going to do. and we made it happen. here in sala burton, we made it happen for 100 residents in 89 units. beautiful units. a beautiful community room.

a clean place and affordable place. a transformative place. for the people who deserve nothing less. and i am so proud to be mayor of such an amazing city where opportunity can exist, where change can happen. this is what happens when we make the right decisions. when we work together. when we do what's necessary to work with all of our city. departments, our federal partners and federal and state agencies. and had it not been for a fierce leader in congress, we would have never gotten as far as we've been able to get with rehabilitating over 1600 units so far and still counting. and the we finished pitt ma -- plaza, a place that ed lee, myself and we took a tour of

pitt's plaza and it is beautiful with free wi-fi for the residents. a transformation. that's what this is about. no longer will residents in san francisco who live in public housing be neglected, live in substandard conditions. you are residents of san francisco just like anyone else and what we have been able to accomplish here by renovating this property demonstrates our commitment to you now and in the future. i want to thank tndc for their work and don falk and his team and kate hartley. barbara garcia is here from the san francisco housing authority. thank you all. jeff buckley and olson lee and so many people who played an important role in making this incredible project worthy of the name that it represents. sala burton manor. thank you so much. [applause]

>> thank you, mayor breed. tndc has had a partnership with the bank of america that extends back 30 years. please join me in welcoming maria barry. [applause] >> hello, everyone. it's so great to be here with you today. on behalf of bank of america, i want to really start out with many thank yous. starting with leader pelosi for your support of affordable housing and the rad program. mayor breed for your support when you were a supervisor and now as mayor. mayor lee, the late mayor lee and the office of community development. tndc, as don said. we have a partnership that's gone back 30 years, which is justs so tremendous. h.u.d., the housing authority. thank you for trusting the new partners and really overseeing this and ensuring that they

will be a steward of these properties going forward. and also i want to thank our bank of america team. ari belliak who was the head of organizing this for our firm, told me that we had over 40 people working on this. so i -- so it was quite an initiative and something that we were so incredibly pleased and proud to be a part of. this rehab is about so much. you know? it's about the mccal and life safety changes. it's about the public spaces now being so welcoming and really creating a great sense of community. but it's also about the residents, as everyone's been saying. it's really about transforming their lives and a major part of this was a social services component that was included in our participation and i got to hear more about that this morning. and just what it was able to do to make this transition so much

easier for the residents so when they moved into their new home, everything went so much easier for them. and a lot of the little things were taken care of, which we're so happy to hear and be part of. this is my second time out to look at these developments and a couple were finished my last trip and now getting to see sala burton apartments so wonderful. these homes are incredible. it's fan it is a ticket see -- it's fantastic to see on resident's faces the story of how nobody knew each other before and now it's a real sense of community. that is how it is for us at bank of america. it's about providing the financing so that the residents can live in safe, comfortable homes. it was nice for a long period of time.

they're built on a sustainable manor. so, long-term they will be wonderful homes to live in. at bank of america, we have a very strong commitment and we were founded over 100 years ago and we invested $2.2 billion into sfrad. and that is such a big investment for us. to give you some perspective. in 2017, we lent and invested $4.5 billion across the country. so we put a significant amount of our resources here and are so happy to see the progress that's been made and the transformation. we also provide foundation money so last year we provided $5.1 million to local nonprofits and we have about 4200 associates in the market. and we also put in $40,000

community service volunteer hours. one of the things that we value is shared success and we're not successful unless communities and customers we serves are successful as well. so this project was all about that. at sala burton, our purpose was to help the residents succeed in their quality of life and live in safe, comfortable homes. thank you so much for including bank of america in this exciting work. we are so proud to be your partners. thank you. [applause] >> and now it is my great pleasure to introduce beverley saba. [applause] >> we are here to honor and celebrate for women who are our

founding mothers for rad in san francisco. barbara smith and alicia cisca of the housing authority, london breed, president of the board of supervisors, now mayor, and nancy pelosi. without these women, rad would not have been able to come to san francisco and be launched as the class act that it is. barbara and alicia had the sad task of informing us that the traditional funding was not in any way adequate to take care of the habitability of our housing and ultimately our housing itself. they applied to get rad to come to san francisco and it meant that the housing authority had to completely restructure itself, which was revolutionary

and dauntsing. but their commitment was absolutely to the tenants inhabiting the housing that they were providing. they made sure, these two women, i know there were other people, but primarily these two women made sure that rad could come to san francisco. housing authority had to go through a lot of goalposts passing through in order to get it here. they did it. now it's here or it can be here. public financing and private financing, it had to be launched. they had to be brought together. so london breed, when mayor ed lee announced the reimagining of public housing, got right on board.

and she put her effort in and it was a positive effort to get this to happen here. and nancy pelosi, using her political influence -- which is formidable -- her political power and her savvy, made sure that it was launched and launched as a class act. when the building was scheduled to be renovated, tndc sent their promising manager, tom lauderbach and the architect chris duncan, to talk to the tenants. their question to us, what do you want? not once, not twice, four times. at least four times. we spoke. they'd come back and say well, we can do this. but we can't do that because of code. let's figure out something else. first time anybody asked us

what the hell we wanted. [applause] and good for them. [applause] one of the things we advocated for was a community room. we didn't have one. lara, they built us this room. it did not exist. tndc got in and they built it for us so i want to make sure everybody understands, tndc and our four mothers really put on or made sure that red became a class act. and to our founding mothers, can we get the flowers, please? ok. [applause] from our heart to yours, nancy may i give that to you? ok.

we have barbara and alicia. there's one over there. >> thank you. >> we'll put them in the back. >> i'm sorry, sweetheart. this goes to alicia and barbara. right there. [laughter] so founding mothers, from our hearts to yours thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> love you, sweetheart. >> thank you, beverley. >> you're welcome.

>> we'll do that afterwards, is that all right? >> my apartment burned down 1.5 years ago in noba. my name is leslie mccray, and i am in outside beauty sales. i have lived in this neighborhood since august of this year. after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red

cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and find out about various programs that could help us get back on our feet, and i signed up for the below market rate program, got my certificate, and started applying and won the housing lottery. this particular building was brand-new, and really, this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. and i came to the open house here, and there were literally hundreds of people looking at the building. and i -- in my mind, i was, like, how am i ever going to possibly win this? and i did. and when you get that notice that you want, it's surreal, and you don't really believe it, and then it sinks in, yeah, i can have it, and i'm finally good to go; i can stay. my favorite thing about my home, although i miss the charm about the old victorian is

everything is brand-new. it's beautiful. my kitchen is amazing. i've really started to enjoy cooking. i really love that we have a gym on-site. i work out four days a week, and it's beautiful working outlooking out over the courtyard that i get to look at. it was hard work to get to the other side, but it's well worth it. i'm super grateful to the mayor's office of housing for having this for us. . >> i just feel like this is what i was born to do when i was a little kid i would make up performances and daydream it was always performing and doing something i feel if i can't do that than i can't be e

me. >> i just get excited and my nickname is x usher my mom calls me i stuck out like a sore thumb for sure hey everybody i'm susan kitten on the keys from there, i working in vintage clothing and chris in the 30's and fosz and aesthetic. >> i think part of the what i did i could have put on my poa he focus on a lot of different musical eras. >> shirley temple is created as

ahsha safai the nation with happens and light heartenness shirley temple my biggest influence i love david boo and el john and may i west coast their flamboyant and show people (singing) can't be unhappy as a dr. murase and it is so fun it is a joyful instrument i learned more about music by playing the piano it was interesting the way i was brought up the youth taught me about music he picked up the a correspond that was so hard my first performing experience happened as 3-year-old an age i

did executive services and also thanks to the lord and sank in youth groups people will be powering grave over their turk i'll be playing better and better back la i worked as places where men make more money than me i was in bands i was treated as other the next thing i know i'm in grants performing for a huge protection with a few of my friends berry elect and new berry elect and can be ray was then and we kept getting invited back you are shows got better we made it to paris in 2005 a famous arc we ended up getting a months residencey other than an island and he came to our show and

started writing a script based on our troop of 6 american burr elect performs in france we were woman of all this angels and shapes and sizes and it was very exciting to be part of the a few lettering elect scene at the time he here he was bay area born and breed braces and with glossaries all of a sudden walking 9 red carpet in i walgreens pedestrian care. >> land for best director that was backpack in 2010 the french love this music i come back here and because of film was not released in the united states nobody gave a rats ass let's say

the music and berry elect and performing doesn't pay very much i definitely feel into a huge depression especially, when it ended i didn't feel kemgd to france anymore he definitely didn't feel connected to the scene i almost feel like i have to beg for tips i hey i'm from the bay area and an artist you don't make a living it changed my represent tar to appeal and the folks that are coming into the wars these days people are not listening they love the idea of having a live musician but don't really nurture it like having a potted plant if you don't warrant it it dizzy sort of feel like a potted plant

(laughter) i'm going to give san francisco one more year i've been here since 1981 born and raised in the bay area i know that is not for me i'll keep on trying and if the struggle becomes too hard i'll have to move on i don't know where that will be but i love here so so much i used to dab he will in substances i don't do that i'm sober and part of the being is an and sober and happy to be able to play music and perform and express myself if i make. >> few people happy of all ages i've gone my job so i have so stay is an i feel like the piano and music in general with my voice together i feel really powerful and strong

>> good evening and welcome to the august 15th, 2018 meeting of the san francisco board of appeals. the board president will be the presiding officer tonight. he is joined by commissioner lazarus, commissioner honda, vice president swig, and bobby wilson will arrive later this evening. to my left as a deputy city attorney who will provide the board with legal advice this evening. at the controls is our legal assistant. i am julie rosenberg. the board's executive director. will be joined by representatives from that city departments that have cases before the board this evening. the acting a zoning administrator will be representing the zoning admission. we expect senior building inspectors to be here. and urban forrester of san francisco public works and urban forestry. the board meeting guidelines are as follows. the board requires you turn off or silence all six phones and

electronic devices so they will not disturb the proceedings. please carry on conversations in the hallway. the rules of presentation are as follows. they are each given seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for fart rebuttal. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments within the seven or three minute periods. members of the public are not affiliated with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttal. please speak into the microphone. five are rehearing requests, the request or responding party in responding departments are given three midland -- minutes to address the board. to assist the board and accurate preparation of minutes, your aspen are required to submit a speaker card or business card to board staff when you come up to speak. speaker cards are available on the left side of the podium. if you have questions about requesting a rehearing, the board he -- hearing or rehearing schedules, call or visit the board office. this meeting is broadcast live.

cable channel 78 and will be rebroadcast on fridays at 4:00 pm on channel 26. dvds off this meeting are available for purchase. now we will swear in or affirm all those who intend to testify. any member of the public may speak without taking an oath. if you intend to testify at any of the proceedings and wish to have the board to give your testimony evidentiary weight, stand, if you are able, raise your right hand and say i do after you have been sworn in or are affirmed. please stand. do you swear or affirm the testimony are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. ok. we will now move on to item number 1 which is general public comment. this is an opportunity for for anyone who would like to speak on a matter within the board's jurisdiction but that is not on today's calendar. is there anyone here file for public comment? ok.

we will move item number 2 at a later time on the agenda. so that commissioner wilson will have an opportunity to provide some comments. we will move on to item number 3. commissioners, before you file for discussion are possible adoption of the august 8th board meeting minutes. >> president fung: any comments or corrections? >> we have a motion from commissioner lazarus to adopt the minutes of the august 8th, 2018 board meeting. are there any public comments on the minutes? seeing then, on that motion, president funk we ? >> that motion carries. we will move on to item number 4. this is an appeal. the subject property is 128 lc street. michael and joanna carter versus the zoning administrator. appealing the issuance on july 3rd, 2018 of the suspension

request regarding building permit application -- applications. they were approved by the planning department on march 29th, 2010 to allow construction of a four-story, no basement single-family dwelling pursuant to variants issued on april 8th, 2010 regarding the front setback, rear yard and curb cut at the subject property. however, this permit was not issued until may 22nd, 2015. three years after the variance decision which rendered the variance decision void and cancelled. the planning department is requesting that the permit be suspended to allow the property owner time to submit a new variance application for the project. we will hear from the appellant. you have seven minutes. >> i need to make a disclosure. good evening. i wish to disclose that i am a partner in a project that was hired as an attorney. the appearance this evening will not have any effect on my decision. although i wish to disclose that although the disclosure is only

one year, i was a builder, developer and seller five other property which is directly across the street. i have the knowledge and i have met with all the neighbours prior to that time. >> thank you. >> good evening commissioners. my name is mike. i am the architect and a previous owner thought about this property. i will give you a little history about the project and the nature of the variance. my wife and i brought the property in 2002. the idea was for me, and architect to design a house that we would build and move into. designing a house that infidels between the two onto adjacent are exceptionally desperate just in size and emplacement on the respective lots was challenging. in working with the neighbors, we decided that if i were to apply for for a variance, i could better afford both properties and more privacy and light. with the support of the neighbors and the neighbourhood, i applied for a variance.

unfortunately, while working on the construction documents, our family's financial situation changed and i decided to go out on my own, right before the financial crisis and my wife went through two job changes. we always hoped for the best as we kept extending the permits. finally, unable to obtain financing for the project, and knowing we would be empty-nesters before completing the house, we decided to sell the lot and the breeding -- building permits. we sold the project to a developer who is building a house up the street. we were unaware his adjacent members -- neighbors were having problems with him. he seemed to understand the issues and he would conduct an outreach before construction. surprisingly, a short time thereafter, the project was sold again. as we are no longer a party to

sail, we had no information about the new buyer. i assumed i would be contacted by the new owner to discuss the nuances of the project i designed. unfortunately, the new owner who is here with us today contacted me on july 16th asking about the suspension request. this is the first time i had heard about it. it was quite a surprise. i thought i would be contacted about the design. anyway. since we've met, just as i did with the first owner, i impressed upon joe the importance of the neighborhood concerns regarding construction on this part of the street to. in particular, they need for flag meant to be delivered -- to be posted for deliveries -- for deliveries. i invited the neighbors in to hear and address everyone's concerns. he agreed and held that meeting last thursday. at the same time, joe was

arranging five other preconstruction meeting, i posted a letter to the e-mail string of lc street which reaches way beyond 150 feet range of this appeal. i explained to all the non-- neighbors new and old about the history of their project, the nature of the variance and the suspension request. i offered additionally to meet anyone who might have any additional questions or concerns about the appeal. no one has contacted me with any questions at all. i have been extremely proactive, upfront and transparent since the beginning of this project. now i will just turn over to my colleague. >> good evening. i'm representing the appellant. on the overhead i have a very quick summary of some of the key dates which is the variance approval in 2010, the three year deadline, expiring in 2013, the permit addition and 2015 and the

permit suspension in 2018. and then the d.b.i. extensions to the permit over a number of years. there are a number of equitable reasons why we are asking you to rescind the permit suspension. and then there are also reasons and precedent as to how and why you can actually do that. by paying the extension fees and complying with the d.b.i. notices, the appellants did not realize there is a separate variance deadline that had already passed. they assumes that everything covered by the permit would remain valid with the extensions of the permits. if you look at exhibit i in our brief, there is only an administrator that had himself grievously held when the conditional use authorization is extended by the planning commission, the separate variance is deemed to be subsumed in the extension. there is no need for separate variance extension. by analogy, it should be subsumed by the repeated permit

building extensions. further, variance decision generally is not subject to code or charter required deadlines. the planning code section three '05 expressly states that if a zoning administrator decides to impose a time limit and the time limit or any other condition is not complied with, that may, but is not required to constitute revocation. however, if you turn into exhibit k, the zoning administrator has previously determined that in the ecu context, and approval shall not be automatically void if the timing deadline has not been complied by and in order for due process to be served, a public hearing is required to revoke an authorization. the prior determination does apply the c.u. approval. however, it does require a separate revocation hearing. but that has also, in practice, been applied to office allocation approvals. lastly, and most importantly,

the zoning administrator does have full authority and power and precedent and extending the decisions. the typical scenario involving extensions is one where there are delays in the permit review and that results in an extension. however variance in the past have been extended after the fact, and also due to project sponsor reasons including financial reasons. if you turn into exhibit m in our brief, you will see one example where the zoning administrator extended a variance decision due to permit holder's financial decision and that was granted after the three year variance. had already passed and before the building permit had been filed. in this case, the overall theme is there is no controversy or disagreement about the variance itself. the variance allows for certain setbacks that are five of the benefit of the neighbors. at the variance is considered to be invalid, the outcome could be a redesign of the project

without the setbacks that the neighbors want to. that is not a scenario that we want. so we treated the suspension appeal and we are concerned like neighbors. we would be happy to go into more detail. those have been addressed sins and we will continue to address. if you would like a couple of additional letters of support and what we have done since then, i would happy to grant them at your discretion if you want to see them. think you. >> i would like to further clarify, the reason why i brought up my prior experience on the block was, after going through their brief, some of the questions i have would indicate that i was the developer across the street. that being before this, we will have no decision and -- it will have no effect on my decision this evening. >> thank you. we will hear from mr teague. >> good evening.

i am from the planning department. again, the subject property here for this case is 128 elsie street. it is a vacant lot located in the rh one zoning district. quickly on the background, the variance application was originally filed in october 2009 for new single-family home on the lot. on april 8th 2010, the variance was granted, providing the rear yard front setback and curb with requirements. the subsequent building permit in 2009 was approved by the planning at approximately the same time that the variance decision letter was published. and then that permit was approved by d.b.i. on march 3rd, 2011, less than one year after the variance was granted. however, for reasons are the appellant indicated, the permit was not issued at that time and multiple extensions were granted for at the permit while it was approved, until it was

eventually issued in march 2015, which was nearly five years after the variance had been granted. more recently, the planning department received a complaint from a neighbour on july 3rd of this year, concerning the permit and its current activity and a notice they received about the development occurring on the lot. once at this issue was looked into by the zoning administrator, it was determined that the permit had been issued after the variance that authorize the permit had expired. they determined that he had no discussion in the matter and drafted and issued a suspension request on july 3rd, 2018. the variance decision letter language was clear and it represents language that we have used for well over a decade in that no site or building permit has been issued within three years.

the variance decision is determined to be void and null. however, that language is not located in the conditions of approval section of the letter. many, many years, that has been located in the body of the letter at the end. the result of that, as i -- as was mentioned in the appellant's brief, the associated notice of special restrictions against put on the property does not actually have the three year expiration information in the nsr even though it is in the letter and that is a standard that has been used for many years. as was mentioned by the appellant, there is no will planning code requirement about a performance. or if or how or when a variance will expire. just that the zoning administrator may set such limits and may apply conditions if they are violated and may result in repercussions for at the variance. the letter, as drafted by the

zoning administrator makes it very clear that based on that letter, if the permit is not issued within three years, it is null and void. it essentially forfeits any discretion to consider it at that time, except five of the issue that was raised, it is consistent language that they may extend the variance approval. if there are issues related to other city actions that have delayed the project or appeals that have delayed the project. in this situation when the zoning administrator had this information before him and determined that, in fact, the variance had expired prior to the permit being issued, he determined that he did not have any discretion in the matter to grant any type of extension and that's why the suspension request was issued. i don't think any of the context has changed since a variance was issued. to my knowledge, none of the

three planning code sections of the project received variances from have changed in any way. it is still a vacant lot with the same topography and same development context developing it as it is today. but just again to the point of what the organization may do, the appellant listed two specific examples referencing a planning commission action and the variance being subsumed into that. in that situation, that was naught not making the determination that the cause -- the planning commission action was extended. therefore the variance was also extended. what happened was the variance was issued at a time before the planning commission had the authority to make that modification themselves. after the fact, the planning commission had that authority, used that authority to make the exception, at once they took that authority and were able to do that, the variance except -- essentially became moot. the other one that was included

in the brief included the n.s.r. it did not include the letter. we did not have that letter in our systems. i'm not sure what that letter said. again, i'm not sure what that letter said. again, to my knowledge and based on past practice, the standard language in the variance letter has been to have the three-year requirement and it is a hard expiration upon that time. one issue was raised in the brief was that, obviously, there was no notification that was automatic in any way to the project sponsor or the property owner or to d.b.i. once the expiration occurred. and also, the building department continued to grant extensions to the permit. i understand that can be confusing. we are a separate department and separate actions. we do not currently have the

technical means to provide an automatic notification like that, conditions of approval for any type of approval given by the zoning administrator. i generally want to the owner and sponsor to maintain and follow, unless we specifically put active monitoring measures on them. having said that, it is understandable how that can be confusing that the permit could actually be issued and extended even if the variance had been expired. again, that is just the history of the project. the zoning administrator did not feel he had any discretion in the matter. but also it does not appear any of the complications to the variance has changed. thank you. >> president fung: i think we all have questions. >> just to clarify, if the complaint had not been filed a month ago, a few weeks ago, which planning have become aware that the variance had expired

clique. >> i can't say that for sure -- for sure. there'd be no other normal method where we would have been made known. in situations like this one something like this is occurring after the fact, it usually is related to a complaint or just some other happenstance where we stumble across this information that is, again, this is an unfortunate byproduct of the fact that the planning department implements a planning code and d.b.i. influence a building code. some of our provisions are implemented through a building permit, which after we approved and scent to d.b.i. for at their review and issuance, is out of our hands and we do not actively monitor that. there would have been no specific reason for asked to be made aware of this issue if the complaint had not been filed. >> secondly, i have to think about how i want to phrase this.

what is accomplished by issuing the suspension? >> what is accomplished is, technically, the permit required a new variance. if it was going to be issued in that manner. because we are the law of today. the law applies up to the plan of -- up to the point of issuance. that is the technical importance of that. i do want to mention, also, i think i mentioned this earlier, i did mention the fact that our variance letters do not include the three year expiration language as a condition of approval, like specifically in the bullet point condition approval of the letter. it is in the body of the letter in the -- at the end. but the cause of this issue and being discovered in this way, we just recently updated our variance template so that now that language will be included in the conditions of approval. it will be clear on the n.s.r. which is what gets adopted on the property. >> president fung: ok.

mr teague? do you have any idea why the change occurred to the time limit -- about a decade ago? >> i'm not sure if you understand the exact question. which change? >> president fung: let me restate this. the variance runs with the property. in the old days, there was no time limit. about a decade ago, the planning department instituted a time limit on the variance for finalization of it. why did that occur? >> i am not sure of the exact timeline. i am not sure of the exact ten year timeline of when the three-year hard stop hop into. i have seen variance letters that were much older than that

that had similar language. >> president fung: has both of the examples that were provided by helen, was issued by the previous e.a. has this e.a. issued any extensions on the variance? >> i'm not aware of any that have been granted. again, i don't have -- i'm not necessarily in a position to be knowledgeable of all of those if they had been issued. >> president fung: thank you. >> i have a question. regarding the neighbour, was it anonymous or an immediate neighbour? >> i do not know off the top of my head if it was an immediate neighbour. the e-mail we received was not anonymous. >> regarding the n.s.r., understanding that the planning department and building department are two separate entities, and n.s.r. is a deed restriction. student that come up since we are computerized?

if there is a hard date expiration, shouldn't that be noted when the authorization is given so future departments don't, i mean, it seems unfair to the permit holder that they have gone through this additional process only to find out that potentially this is null and void. >> sure. we have not had that digital capability in the past. those are the kind of things we want to be able to get out of the new system once we are fully coordinated on that system. know, we have not had the capability of having that type of digital notice in the past. but i can understand why it can be confusing. it is not on the n.s.r. again, the n.s.r. on the property is specific to the zoning administrator's decision and the planning department approval and not to the building permit itself.

>> but like i said, a condition given by the zoning administrator that runs concurrent with the property's ability to develop, under that scenario, i would imagine the planning department has a system, that if you are not supposed to build, if there is a new do not build on the planning department, is there something that flags the billing department not to issue permits on it? >> no, we do not have an automatic flagging system based on timelines like that. under the new system that is under development to, that is a kind of thing we hope to be able to accomplish. >> on the complaint from the neighbor, ages -- is it an immediate neighbor? >> i honestly don't know off the top of my head. >> ok. thank you. >> mr duffy? do? do you have anything to add? >> what a nice surprise. they introduced mark wallace as being the inspector for this evening. >> mark is here in addition to me as well for at the case on some technical stuff. good evening commissioners. joe duffy. d.b.i. this is a planning appeal but i

heard in the reference for the building permits. this is for the building permits. this is a common enough occurrence at d.b.i. when we see a permit application with -- may be nine or ten years ago and then there has been delays. i will state that the permit applicants seem to have taken advantage of the building code in relation to extensions on the permit. they came in and paid their fees and they complied with the building code in relation to not letting the permit to be cancelled, file for whatever reason. is in the building code that you can do that. there's various reasons why people do it. it is not our favourite choice, but it is in their. i was looking through the permit details when i read the brief and i do see that the other thing that struck me is when the addendum got issued in december 2018, had based called file for a start of work inspection and broken ground, that would have been an issue of the building permit and therefore i don't

know if the variance is the term soffit that. i want to let you know, we deal with this a lot at d.b.i. people come in and we always warn them. be careful with your variance and the planning department approvals. you may have run out of time on that. be careful with its. i agree with you on the question on the complaint. had the complaint not have gone to planning, this building would be out of construction. it seems they got caught in the middle. i do understand the neighbor's complaints. if they have not called file for a start work, i'm not sure if mr teague would agree with me, but that initiates the permit and any sort of work at all start that process. i just thought i would add that. >> president fung: you noticed we are not discussing your new system here? [laughter] >> i don't know much about it, to be honest with you. i will save comment on that. thank you. >> thank you. is there any public comment on

this item? please approach the microphone. how many people are here for public comment? ok. you have three minutes, plea. >> thank you. my name is jeremy daley. i moved in a year ago to the lot immediately to the front of this lot. i am on winfield. 141 winfield. is significantly below elsie. obviously, you would know that. file for us, we were concerned to hear about this. we only heard about it through the postcard system. our neighbors on winfield to our immediate sides are concerned about this. and they heard about it because we talked about it on the weekend. my concern is partly that we were unaware of it until getting the postcard. in terms of consultation, we did not know anything about that. the other thing that i am very concerned about and this is a lot of it in my head, our lots are in an active landslide zone

according to data s.f. the city and county recognition of seismic hazards. i'm concerned about having a four-story building immediately behind us. the lots are very small, which you know as well because the streets become more narrow as they get closer to the corner. which means all of the backyard, limited as it is, will be covered by the shadow of this building. we wanted to say we were not aware of it until the postcard. i am concerned about it because of the zoning. the seismic hazard and concerned about the height. thank you. >> commissioner honda: i have a question. are you a renter or do you own? and you bought the property under the area of disclosure, did indicate there was any future developments? >> indicated there was a plan, but we had been told it would be in existence for several years and probably had expired. that is with the realtors told us. our neighbors, to our immediate side, had been there for several years and they were not aware of it. >> commissioner honda: but it did indicate there is potential