we're going. so why is adu such a challenge or delay in processing adus? it's not such the dwelling unit, it's that's you're building the dwelling units within existing buildings. you have older housing stock here in san francisco, that today, themselves, are existing nonconforming. so now we're going to build a unit within that building that has to meet current code. that is the challenge. and quite often, the designer cannot meet prescribed code as mandated by state law and state code. we as the local authority cannot be less restrictive than state code. we can find alternatives, alternative means, equivalencies to offset deficiencies and that's where our focus has been. in the past, typically, when an

application comes in, it begins with planning, works through building and eventually gets to fire. we're at best third in line to review these applications. in the past, when we knew this was coming and we knew it was a priority, affordable housing, what we did was we identified a select group within our plan check team, our plan review team. we have 14 plan reviewers for san francisco fire. we have a select group of four and we had those four review the adus. the reason we did that was for consistency, consistent in messaging and application of the code. we're reinventing the wheel. most applications did not meet code and we had to come up with equivalency. how did we get around that? we put out an information sheet, worked with dbi on this, about the most common challenge we saw

with adus, and that was the single exit exception. why was that a challenge? in san francisco, you look at density, zero lot line setbacks, the buildings are narrow. when put two exists on the -- exits on the ground floor, it consumed the majority of the space down there. it does allow single exit under certain conditions. we focused on that and came up with alternatives that in our opinion and with dbi, were equally as safe if not more safe. we published that to get in front of that. the other thing about adu and the review process of adu, there are two ways to prioritize adus. i could put them in intake and move them to the front of the line. or what we chose to do with the fire department, set them off on a separate track. so as the adus are identified on intake, they go off to a separate track and we have a designated team within the fire

department that focuses on adu and large development projects. that consists of a captain, a fire protection engineer and a fire inspector at this time. we're looking to grow that. what we see coming down the road is that this program will be expanded to other types of affordable housing, not just adus. the other thing we've done is we've set aside every monday, one day of the week, where we meet with building departments and applicants, we set the whole monday aside for pre-application meetings to meet with applicants. moving forward, i think what we're looking at, and i'm in discussion with the building department, over-the-counter. is it really over-the-counter when you have multiple counters? in my point, it's a little misleading. it's not a one-stop shop where you bring your application and

you're out. i've been in discussion with the building department on this, i would like to pursue the idea of being with adus, we're talking about with existing buildings. you have a mandatory -- i'm just floating the idea, a mandatory preop. why do i say mandatory preop? for those there is another reason for the pre-app. i'm not going to speak for building department, a majority of the intake, the applicants and the designer does not have the appropriate information on there and it gets kicked back right away. so how do we get around that? if maybe we had a pre-app where you come in, handle all requests for equivalencies and also have a checklist of what was expected on the drawings when they came back in. that would be step number one. step number two is, we would

have a review with the whole team, building and fire, and whatever agency had to be there, at the same time. so they come in for a second meeting with all the updates on the plans, the information, the items they incorporated in the plans. you go into a room, whether it's by appointment, or a certain day and you turn page right there, realtime. building and fire and they're out the door. we're looking into that. let's talk numbers. since we started the dedicated adu team, our numbers are -- we are reviewed about 45 plans from the new team. we have five of them that are in -- they're pending. so let's talk about backlog. backlog, when we talk about backlog, what does that mean? that means those plans that are pending. that means we have not set eyes

on the plans yet. that is the backlog. if you have started the review, completed the review, or comment waiting for the applicants to return with the updates, that is not part of the backlog. so at this time as of today, i came and checked, we have five plans that are pending. all of which are a week or less. in there for a week or less. so we're moving in the right direction. there is room to grow, room to improve i should say and we're working with the building department on that. >> supervisor kim: supervisor brown? >> supervisor brown: thank you for your suggestions. i do like the pre-application idea and the checklist. because many of my constituents start this had program trying to do an adu in a small unit

building and one thing they said, it looks like they go along until they hit fire. they come back and have to redesign the plans and that drives up the costs. and it seems like the architects don't understand what fire is saying has to be there. a checklist right at the beginning, i know it's more detailed, but some kind of checklist they should know before they even start their plans is a great idea. >> i agree. and one thing i like to mention about -- i hear this quite often -- fire is holding us up. i hear it all the time. i look at those comments, the majority of those, granted we're not perfect and we get off track, but the majority of those comments are required by code. we cannot be less restrictive

than code. so there is a disconnect between the designer and the authority that is review them, whether it's building or fire. so the pre-app i think would help a lot in that. >> supervisor kim: can i ask a quick follow-up to the question about the code. how much is open to interpretation by the department? and how much do you feel is strictly, you know, just a strict question as this is not possible and this is possible via code? >> the code is pretty clear. we, as the local, can make interpretations and quite often do. there are some that rise to the level where it is given to the state fire marshal office for interpretation, and we follow that lead. but the local, we have that authority to make the interpretation. we're talking about single exit exception. in those cases, the buildings are required to be fully

sprinklered. that's clear. you're coming in, typical adu built in a garage. now i'm putting a couple of units in the garage. if i have a single exit, that whole building is required to be sprinklered. so is it an interpretation? yes, it is. no it's clear. how do we get around things like that? not around. that didn't sound right. how do we have the same level of protection for the people living in the building as if the building was fully sprinklered? that's how we look at it. we talked about early warning, talked about horizontal fire separation, sprinkling the ground floor. and a number of other things. so overall, the code is pretty clear. but we do have latitude coming up with the equivalencies. >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> supervisor peskin: i was going to add that for, again

this is back to professionals versus lay people. there are actually architects out there and i actually thought i could put an adu into a property that i owned and i hired somebody and for the cost of $120 came to the conclusion that i did not fit within the fire code. there was no way i could do it. i had ceiling height, but there were other issues and i couldn't do it. and so for $120 i realized that i shouldn't go and do plans and get the brain damage of standing in front of the various agencies that have codes to enforce. and so i guess, i mean the handbook is important, but also when people come in and they're exploring this, our giving them a list of competent professionals who do this, so they can go out there and be told, don't bother, you're never going to get past public safety laws we appropriately have, i think that is part of

streamlining this process as well. >> >> agreed. and one of the things that is overlooked is access to rescue windows. if i'm a residential building, four stories and less, and that construction is not sprinklered, every requires a rescue window. quite often on these applications where we could go through a garage or breezeway, with a ground ladder and now you build out the units, now we cannot get to the rear of the existing building to ladder the windows of the existing units. that's another example of things we focus on that is quite often overlooked. >> supervisor kim: thank you so much. i'm not sure if we should bring dbi back up. did you need more time?

we're not opening up for public comment. i'm asking if the department of building inspection wanted to come back with the updated numbers? >> ok for the updated number for the week ending 9-21-18, 81. rent controlled adus 74. total number of adus was 474. >> supervisor kim: i'm sorry. you said tot i'm sorry. you said total number of adus is 474. what does that mean? >> for the week ending september 21, this year, total number of adus completed, the owner has

received a certificate of completion, they can rent the unit, total number is 81. of the approved and issued adus, program to date, so received approval from the city to begin construction, that would be an additional 393 adus on top of that completed number. >> supervisor kim: on top of the 81. so not 343, 393? >> correct. so those are the adus in action. >> supervisor kim: ok. >> so that's kind of the updated number. >> supervisor kim: great. and then roughly 889 submitted permits, not the number of adus. thank you so much. so at this time, i'm seeing -- >> supervisor, the numbers mean little between planning the

building and what happened, because there are technical services that do that, that work with the numbers to make sure they're accurate before we report them. >> supervisor kim: thank you. yeah, i understand there are two different agencies, but we should have the same numbers. at this time, we'll open up for public comments on items number 3 and 4. >> good program, but as you can see, i don't have to go through the problems. they've already demonstrated the problems. modular units, the amount of money, time, consumption and investment you're doing is counterproductive. it's called oversupervising. the amount of money you're spending should be spent on building a brand new building up to code where you don't have to maneuver around codes that's already on the books. i move you to incorporate the same technique you're using for homeless teachers. you have $44 million bond for 100-unit apartment building

complex to be built. you got another $44 million bond for an additional 120-unit apartment unit building complex for homeless teachers and that same technique should be used for the people living in these modular units. i even seen one idea where you want to use overseas shipping containers in order to house people who are vulnerable and down on their luck. you need to treat people in the same manner that you treat people in higher income brackets and quit cutting corners. it's a waste of time and money and you're not looking at the significance of a process control where you get the maximum amount of services that is provided to the customer and by the same response, spend the least amount of money in order to achieve the target. [bell ringing] example, if you build the same technique that

you use fort homeless teachers for the people that are going to be in the modular units, you eliminate all this red tape. and having these walls put in front of you after you reach a step and finding out that you can't complete the step because there is a code regulation. sincerely. >> ace washington. founder of case. i want to make -- since i have this time, just two minutes. i'm going to do it in two minutes. case does rhyme with ace, but it has significance behind it. my statement is here to you all and everybody on this committee, this committee is supposed to be rules and audit. well, i'm not going to mention no names, but somebody sitting on that committee over there needs to be audited. they need to have other things that you're all monitoring right

here in their district. because i found out the other day somebody sitting on your committee, in my opinion, in my opinion, my opinion only, is doing some things i think are unethical if not illegal in the community. has been doing it for a number of years. it's been passed down from one administration to the other. i'm talking about the fillmore, i'm calling it the fill no more. so i ain't got to talk no more, not mentioning no names. but our community is aware. through my investigation, i'm like senator leahy out there. one man stopped the procedure and it will be revealed in my articles. if it had not been for ace on the case, appropriate things would have been going on with that building. somebody sitting on your committee right now is in charge of that.

my name is ace, and i'm on the case and i'm here to let the city and county and all the politicians, everybody must come clean in 2018. i'm not going to tolerate in the african-american on both sides of the city, on the west side, and the east side, because in the middle you have the buildings, that's corruption, too, because it comes to the administration prior to you all. [bell ringing] >> supervisor kim: thank you. i guess our phones are beeping because of the national wireless alert system. seeing no comment, we will close public comment. colleagues, are there any further questions or comments? if not, i do have -- our office

has distributed amendments to item number 4. and mr. clerk, do i just read them into the record? >> that would be fine. >> supervisor kim: so we have added the resolve clause that the board of supervisors that they agree with finding number f2. that we agree with finding f-6. that we agree with finding f-7. and that we -- and that we report that r 2 requires further analys analysis. they should study the correlation between the permitting fees and adu construction. supervisor peskin talked about the importance of having a financing vehicle. perhaps being equally or more important than the permitting fees, which is a smaller

fraction of the cost. and we report with the budget office. then we finally further resolve that the board of supervisors urges the mayor to accept the findings and recommendation through her department heads and the development of the annual budget. so that is my motion to amend item number 4. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: i might quibble with one of the recommendations, but i wanted it start out by thanking the civil grand jury. i think this report is very timely and helpful. this is a policy conversation that has been going on really for many, many years. it used to be the third rail of politics in san francisco. i think a decade and a half ago i proposed a city-wide secondary unit and now we call them accessory dwelling units, adus

and i couldn't get it through the board of supervisors. it died on a 6-5 vote and everyone said i would never be able to run for office again. times have definitely changed. it's now embraced as a way to increase housing production. that is affordable by design. do not tear asundayer the fabric of the neighborhoods we love. it's going to be a long process. i think the planning department said we could build as many oz 30,000 of these. that there are residents that lend themselves to adu and we have heard the numbers, albeit, no offense, they're a little bit all over the map, but this is going to roll out and we need to streamline, whether it's mayor lee or our current mayor. i think all 11 members of the board are trying to do that. we're holding adu fairs. we are looking for a financing

product that will help mom-and-pop owners doing it. i'm not totally sanguine. it's a relatively small percentage of the entire package. i think it's worth analysis, the fee structure. and certainly i agree that lower fees are an incentive, but i don't know this is where the bottle neck is occurring. so as to f-6, it's not a big deal, but partially disagree and say that the recommendation requires further analysis within six months of this hearing date. and maybe during that time we can get the controller to do further analysis to determine the effect of permit fees on the

construction of new adus. and i think that is more consistent with our recommendation which is that further analysis is required. so i would make that suggestion relative to f-6. >> supervisor kim: thank you, supervisor peskin. i agree that does make our amendments more consistent. so what i will take the friendly amendment and change the motion to have it be resolved that we agree with findings f-2 and f-7, however, we would like further analysis for r 2, r 3 and f-6. we stated -- would you like us to add that to the list? that is the motion, and can we accept this motion without objection?

>> thank you, again. >> supervisor kim: thank you so much to the civil grand jury report. i also want to thank all of the city departments for coming through today and answering all of the questions. i understand the confusion about all the numbers, but it just highlights the importance of aligning and coordinating amongst our city agencies. i know this is a huge priority for our mayor and i think it is for many members of the boards board of supervisors. i'm going to take a motion to continue this hearing to the call of the chair. supervisor peskin mentioned perhaps six months. i'm sure this will be interesting and topic that many of us will continue to want to be engaged with. we'll take this motion to continue this -- >> clerk: excuse me. >> supervisor peskin: so moved. >> supervisor kim: we can do that without objection. >> clerk: the resolution is still before us. >> supervisor kim: yes.

so we'll continue this hearing and can we recommend the resolution to the board as amended? and we can do that without objection. thank you, everyone. mr. clerk, can you please call item number 5 for closed session. >> leanna: ordinance authorizes settlement of a lawsuit for suzanne montes for 575,000. >> supervisor kim: at this time we open up for public comment on thistime. seeing none, public comment is closed. we are now asking that members of the public exit the room so that this committee can convene into closed session? a motion? >> supervisor peskin: so moved. >> supervisor kim: we are now in closed session.

we are now back to session for government audit and oversight. >> during the closed session, the committee voted unanimously to send item 5 to the full board with positive recommendation. >> supervisor peskin: make a motion not to disclose. >> supervisor kim: we have that motion and we can do that without objection. any other items before the committee? >> there is no further business. >> supervisor kim: seeing none, this meeting is adjourned. thank you, everybody.

>> i have been living in san francisco since 1957. i live in this area for 42

years. my name is shirley jackson, and i am a retirement teacher for san francisco unified school district, and i work with early childhood education and after school programs. i have light upstairs and down stairs. it's been remodelled and i like it. some of my floors upstairs was there from the time i built the place, so they were very horrible and dark. but we've got lighting. the room seems lighter. they painted the place, they cemented my back yard, so i won't be worried about landscaping too much. we have central heating, and i

like the new countertops they put in. up to date -- oh, and we have venetian blinds. we never had venetian blinds before, and it's just cozy for me. it meant a lot to me because i didn't drive, and i wanted to be in the area where i can do my shopping, go to work, take the kids to school. i like the way they introduced the move-in. i went to quite a bit of the meetings. they showed us blueprints of the materials that they were going to use in here, and they gave us the opportunity to choose where we would like to stay while they was renovating. it means a lot. it's just that i've been here

so long. most people that enjoyed their life would love to always retain that life and keep that lifestyle, so it was a peaceful neighborhood. the park was always peaceful, and -- i don't know. i just loved it. i wanted to be here, and i stayed.

>> hi, i'm with building san francisco. and we have a special program of stay safe today where we're going to talk about what you can do to your home after an earthquake to make it waterproof and to be more comfortable.

we're here at spur in san francisco, this wonderful exhibit of safe enough to stay. and this is an example of what your home might be like after an earthquake. and we have today with us ben latimer from tvan. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> we'll talk about things you can do you don't have to be a professional contractor to make your home more livable after an earthquake. >> i want to talk about things a homeowner can do. we have comfort and we have things like a little bit of maybe safety if your front door is ajar and waterproofing if you have a leak in your roof, or if you have broken glass on the window. >> so unr, one of the most important fib use is keeping outside out and inside in. let's look at windows. >> let's assume this window is broken in the earthquake. we have wind and rain blowing in. one of the most important things you need to do as a homeowner is secure the plastic

properly. if you just take staples or nails and put them into the plastic, we're going to get a strong wind and rip it right off. what i'm going to have somebody do is they're going to have -- this is an old piece of shingle. you might have -- everybody has a piece of wood in their basement. it doesn't have to be fancy. they take out this rusty screw begun, and hopefully you have one of these. >> there is one at the neighborhood support center. >> at the neighborhood support center. you're going to wrap this plastic around this board, take your screw. and then screw that in. >> you need a permit for this? >> you do need a permit for this. and you can contact the former head building inspector to get that permit. that's it. now when the wind blows, it's tight and it's not going to pull through, having a single point of contact. >> great. what about this door? take a look at this door. what can you do? let's say it doesn't shut tight.

what can you do? >> for the sake of argument, we're on the inside. i can't lock my door at night. i have a very similar, very similar idea. i'm going to take my 2 by 4. i can put it across the jamb in the door. one. two. maybe i want another one up here, maybe another one down there. but i can go to sleep. and that quickly, i can get it off in the morning. >> terrific. what about the roof up here? we see people throw blue tarps over their roof after an earthquake. that seems reasonable. >> i think the blue tarp is reasonable. the things that people want to know that they need to know is if you have multiple tarps, how you overlap. starting from the bottom and moving up so that you're overlapping this way. so, rain running down doesn't slide under your tarp. >> right. >> and the same technique we did over here, as silly as it may sound, wrapping the end of

that blue tarp with your board and then securing that if you can underneath, if you have to on top is fine. but making sure that you don't have an area where the wind is going to get under and bill owe that tarp. >> the wind can rip it right off. >> and then you're back up there again. >> let's go inside and check out what we can do inside. >> old fun. here we go. >> so, ben, i see you have nails, universal tool right here. >> man's best friend. duct tape. let me show you a couple things we can use this for after an earthquake. this window right here, because it's off kilter, we have open seams all along. i have a lot of air coming through. i want to stay comfortable at night. i want to keep that air out. it's as simple as that, all the way around. >> excellent. >> now i don't have any air coming in. let's say this one is one that would annoy me. everything is a little off. my doors won't stay closed. i take a piece of my favorite duct tape here, close it up. and at least it will stay out of my way when i'm trying to

live throughout my day. if we're not talking about pressurized water, we're talking about just the drain, sometimes they're going to get a crack here. >> right, sure. >> and you're going to get a leak. duct tape around that is going to help us get through until we can get a plumber out and get that fixed as well. let's say we only have electricity in one room, so we're running extension cords across the house. if i'm going to run an extension cord from one room to the other, i don't want kids tripping on it. i don't want to trippon it. i take my trusty duct tape, tape it to the floor, and i don't have to worry about it getting kicked. >> great, great. look at this. let's look at the duct tape here because we see a big -- >> yes. in the event of an earthquake, i don't think we're going to have too many -- too much debris that's safe to put into a plastic bag, even as strong as it might be. these are called vice bags. this is what they use to put rice and things when they ship it. this is something where i take my glass, i can take broken

pieces of wood, i can take anything sharp and fill it. and it's not going to puncture and come out. it's not going to fall all over the floor. i've not going to have it sticking out, maybe scratch myself, cut myself or anything like that. these are a great thing to have. >> you have a little go-to box for emergencies. that's great. thanks very much for joining us, ben. it's really been interesting. and i want to thank you all for joining us here at the spur urban center. and we'll see you again >> when i open up the paper every day i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about the planet i want to leave for my children and other generation, i think of what contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. ♪

clean power sf is san francisco's key way of fighting climate change by renewable energy and offering it to san francisco customers. i'm from the san francisco public utilities commission. the program came about with state wide legislation in 2002 to enable people to take more control over supplies. i first heard of the program when the organization was advocating to launch clean power sf. what i'm most excited about, it's going to bring 100% renewable energy to my home and reinvest into renewable energy infrastructure and jobs. i had gone to a lot of street fairs and heard from the staff at the san francisco public utilities commission to sign up for clean power sf even before it launched. >> we learned about clean power

sf because our sustainability team is always looking for clean operations. linkedin is the largest online network. there are about 530 million members using our site. in this san francisco office there's about 1400 employees working in roughly 400,000 square feet. >> after signing up for the program we heard about the san francisco program and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. i'm the co-owner of the new wheel electric bike shop. we opened this store in 2012 and the new wheel sells and services electric bikes. 11 people work here in san francisco and our store is about 2,000 square feet. electric bikes are fantastic for transportation in the city, they're clean and green and you

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that's a no-brainer, i can do that. >> we were pleased that clean power sf offers the super green 100% for commercial entities like ours and residents for the city of san francisco. we were pleased with the package of services for linkedin and now encouraging our employees who have a residence in san francisco to sign on as well. >> clean power sf buys its power from renewable plants that feed the energy directly into the grid. >> there's a commitment to sustainability throughout the entire organization and this clean power opportunity reflects that. >> one of the wind farms we use is the shilo wind farm and that is large enough to be able to provide energy for up to 200,000 homes. >> our mission is sustainability, even though our

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