i have served on the commissioner walker served on it and commissioner clinch. if there is no objection, we kind of would like to stay on the litigation committee and i would put a motion forward that we stay with the same committee if there is no objections. >> no objections, so i move that we keep the same members on the litigation committee. >> thank you. >> is there a second? >> second. >> okay. >> is there any public comment on this motion? >> okay, take the roll, please? >> okay, are all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? >> the motion carries and the current commissioners serving will remain on the litigation subcommittee. item number five, discussion and possible action to appoint commissioners to serve on the nominations subcommittee. >> thank you, madam, secretary. once again, if there is no objection i would like to keep the same appointments on this commission. >> is there a motion? >> i move to maintain the same membership in the nomination committee. >> second. >> is there any public comment on this item? >> seeing none, are all commis

. >> commissioner walker? >> here. >> commissioner mccray? >> present. >> commissioner clinch, president mccarthy, and president melgar are all excused. we have a quorum. and the next item on the agenda is president's announcements. >> okay. president mccarthy is with his family in ireland for st. patrick's day and we hope he has a speedy and safe return. the first item in regards to the announcements is that acting director tom hui participated recently in a field inspection with the mayor and members of the sfp.u.c. and other city agencies at the 15th avenue where the water main leak occurred and caused major damage to some homes. dbi had to red tag three homes there and place yellow tags and restricted access on others. acting director hui also joined the mayor and other city officials in a meeting with the community and explained how dbi would help expedite the permits required to make the repairs. i think a lot of us read about that. soil problem there with the sink hole in the papers, and that's where that took place. sfpuc is planning

. >> commissioner walker? >> here. >> and commissioner mccray is excused and we have a quorum and the next item is president's announcement. good morning, everybody and thank you all for being here on this morning and i have president's announcements. thanks for the staff who are staffing this year's chinese festival will be held on february 23rd and 24th, including joe chan and danny low and maria lee, from the plan review services. and tony who is supervising the fifth floor and then quan from building inspection. special thanks for commissioner mar who will be volunteering at the volunteer, it is not a kissing booth. >> congratulations to the story was actually about the planning hiring and staff to catch up on the growing project's backlog but the examiner knows that this handsome inspector when they see him, the image from the story published two years ago and got the front page cover and well done, even though you work for dbi thanks for calvan e and vanbon. >> for the enforcement efforts on 308 turk stre

. >> commissioner walker? >> thank you. >> i see a lot of folks here and in the audience who have been working on this very important issue for well over a decade. and i am really excited to see this mandatory program. i think that i have been involved in this process myself, for well over a decade. and as i have said often, the more that you realize and know about the state of some of these buildings, the more urgency there is, i fully support this program. and this mechanism which we have wrestled with for a long, long period of time. so i wonder if you could talk about any kind of movement that we have in helping the building owners with these up grades in a way that does not negatively effect the affordable and the pass through to tenants. >> absolutely. one of the things that the commissioner requested of me that we do out reach in a few areas. out reach to the tenant community to figure out what their issues are. and the property owner and more importantly to out reach to the finance mechanisms to find o

>> well, actually commissioner, walker. there used to be part of the fund that individuals for at least the smaller buildings could use surf and cherp moneys and programs commissioner melgar is better at speaking on that issue. but i understand from the housing those funds are some what dried up. dbi did fund that at one point in time and it may be as the economy picks up that we will look at perhaps, the funding, but also look at whether or not, in the appropriate situation whether that can be expanded to other than small property owners in certain situations. i would not say, necessarily, that 308 turk would necessarily be a candidate. but other prompts may be. that would definitely be something to be looked at. >> that would be great and maybe we could get together proposals around that. i think that it is a benefit. to have these buildings available. there are some of our lowest cost housing. but they really need to, we need to continue to focus on bringing the ha bitbility up. >> and the bliet cases that are very diffic

. >> and commissioner walker? >> here. >> and commissioner mccray is excused. we have a quorum. and the next item is item e, the oath. would all persons that may be giving testimony today please stand and raise your right hand? do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge? >> yes. >> thank you. you may be seated. next item is item c, approval of minutes, discussion of possible action to adopt the minutes for the meeting held on october 24th, 2012. >> move to approve. >> second. >> all in favor of approving the minutes? >> aye. >> any opposed? seeing none, the minutes -- i'm sorry, public comment. is there any public comment on the minutes? the minutes of october 24th are approved. item d, new appeals, orders of abatement, case no. 6771, [speaker not understood], agent for the appellant, james grossman, action requested by appellant, the appellant is requesting that the order of abatement be revoked and assessment be waived. >> good morning. [speaker not understood] for the department. in reviewing this case for this board, we d

. >> commissioner walker? >> present. >> and commissioner mccarthy and melgar are excused. ~ and we have a quorum. the next item is item b, the oath. will all persons that may be giving testimony today please stand and raise your right hand? do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge? >> yes. >> thank you. you may be seated. item c, approval of minutes, discussion and possible action to adopt the minutes for the meeting held on november 21st, 2012. there is a motion to approve the minutes. >> move to approve. >> second. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> any opposed? is there any public comment on the minutes? the minutes are approved. the next items are continued appeals for order of abatement. the cases, case no. case no. 6773, 1316 - 22 mariposa street has been continued and the continuance has been granted for 30 days. is there any public comment? >> can we hear from staff? >> i'm sorry? >> can we hear from staff? >> let's take one at a time. let's do the conti

so with that i would second commissioner walker's motion. >> all the count. >> we have the motion and a second. a roll call vote? >> president mccarthy? >> aye. >> mar? >> yes. >> commissioner clinch? >> yes. >> commissioner lee. >> yes. >> commissioner melgar. >> yes. >> and commissioner walker. >> yes. >> and the motion carries. >> our next item. >> item 8, director's report. >> item 8 a update on dbi's finances. >> >> department of building inspection. this is going to be a very, very, quick presentation. >> yeah, sure. >> and so, as you know we continued to have revenues come in greater than what we had this time last physical year to the tune of 22 percent. our issued permits have continued to come in at about nine percent more than the previous year and the valuation continues to grow in the terms of the issued permits by 25 percent. our revenues we got in the first enstallment of our apartment hotel license revenues with the tax in december, and they are what we expected which is essentially we get in the majority in the first in december and the rest in april. and i just like

. >> okay. >> commissioner walker.

. >> go ahead, commissioner walker. >> yes. i know that we have our regular update about the new permitting system. i also think that there were some lingering issues that were -- we were trying to resolve with the key matic. it would be good to check the work flow at the front end of our process. maybe next week we can talk about what is happening with the fifth floor and the flow of work through our department. ~ the next meeting. >> i know also with some of these larger projects, sometimes we have to have staff assigned to them almost as a major section of the work, if not almost full just to keep the permits and the things going. ~ full time i wonder how this is in relationship balance with the over the counter work which is happening on the fifth floor. i understand sometimes i have to do a little bit of both. they have to work on a major project, at the same time they have to do over the counter. maybe they might have a two-day, three-day split. i want to make sure that, you know, these projects are also, you know, has th

and that's the last item. >> commissioner walker. >> i'll go first. i just want to get a little clarification on the entire process. so, say if i'm an architect -- and i am -- i'm designing a supermarket and i have some questions regarding the plumbing system and how it relates to that. i want to file a pre-application, pre-addendum plan review request. i pay my fee. i submit my plans and a list of questions to the department, right. and the department in 10 days will tell me when a meeting will be scheduled. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> is there a time limit on when the meeting will take place or when it will take place? >> it's just set within that 10 days. >> pardon? >> it's usually set within those 10 days. >> it's usually -- >> set within the 10 days. >> sorry, tom. generally you submit the package to second floor and then they will give you choose the future days, they will send you a notice -- >> what i'm getting at is how quickly are those meetings -- >> within a week. >> okay. >> actually, you submit the specific question. you canno

. >> commissioner walker. >> a couple of things, i think that an aagenda item updating on the notice of violations in the notice of process, and also, maybe a staff report regarding the funding issues that we talked about regarding code enforcement and maybe some recommended moves forward on that. just a point of clarification there, commissioner walker, would that be something that deputy levan would put together separate from the novs? >> yeah. that would be separate from the report on the novs, right? >> yes. >> the violations. >> yes. >> now is there... commissioner? >> if i could modify that just a little. >> sure. >> it seems that is also starts with this code enforcement so it would be miss levon and miss bosky because there are processes that they have abandoned or have not been followed for a while to make that happen. >> exactly. >> and the key for me i know that the novs we should be able to facilitate. >> the items is what i am hearing. >> there are two separate. i am just hoping is that another time for the deputy levan to put something like that together? i am not sayin

. >> commissioner walker. >> one last question. how many requests do you see coming? >> i'm not in that division, so i have no idea actually. i just know people are doing it full time. >> okay. >> at least two people are busy. >> i think just about every day five or six or more. that's why it fully occupies [speaker not understood] honor senior plan checker or good leader. >> i see that our fire marshal maybe wants to weigh in on this as well >> tom harvey, assistant deputy chief fire marshal for the fire department. this is -- and i want to thank director hui's staff and kirk with the technical service. they've reached out to us on this. this is one of the best bargains that a designer can have. it helps expedite the process really quickly. it's not just for code interpretations. most of the time it has to do with alternate methods. the designer either chooses not to or can't meet the prescriptive requirements of the code. so, this is what puts everybody together into one room and it is usually a higher level. we usually have our supervisors with the fire protection

commissioner walker is nodding her head because she sits on the litigation committee.

it makes sense to see how, you know, maybe we could incorporate, you know, some more -- as commissioner walker, for instance, mentioned, some more communication about ongoing repair needs that may not have come to the agency directly through tenants, but sort of have a better sense from the department of, you know, generally what the common issues are, what maybe the patterns are, the response time, you know, issues such as that. and then also kind of separate, being able to separate out a little what is related to major capital improvement needs. we know there are issues with that particularly related to funding. and other things are maybe really an issue of someone's not going out in a timely manner to go fix the issue at hand. and, so, it might be good to just be able to sort of track these things better, to have more of a conversation ongoing about these needs. one of the things that i think of when i hear, you know, rosemary's report on the number of complaints received, et cetera, is that i really think that they are under reported. i don't think that that's an accurate picture of the nu

commissioner walker is nodding her head because she sits on the litigation committee. we had a situation we recommended that case go to the city attorney because we would be out there, we wrote notices of violation. they would fix the items. they would break again. and we had a revolving situation going on. that case -- if that's what you mean by serial situation, that was a case that was referred to the city attorney. now, let me just say that you have to be able to identify and document the violations and you have to give the property owner a chance to fix them because there could be different reasons why things break. and, so, from that standpoint we do that. we document that. and that's why i mentioned earlier that we have a report that tells us on a property, whether there are more than three, three or more open housing cases -- not even department wide -- housing cases. then we look at that, find out what's going on there. are the permits that need to be taken out? what is the property owner doing, what's happening with the property, and those are some of the way

>> commissioner walker. >> just in response to that, maybe it's an agenda item that we could put on when we're talking about the abatement appeals process that we also talk about how to keep track of that. they're related. ~ the related director's hearings. >> do you want to put that -- >> same agenda. >> appeals board -- >> maybe we agendize it as a process or our hearing of notice of violation process including director's hearings and abatement appeals meetings. >> okay. item 11, review and approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of december 19, 2012. >> move the approval of the minutes december 19, 2012. >> is there a second? >> second. >> all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, the minutes are passed unanimously. item number 12, review and approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of january 16, 2013. >> move to approve. >> second. >> is there any public comment on the minutes? are all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> any opposed? the minutes are passed. item number 13, adjournment. is there a motion to

. >> go ahead, commissioner walker. >> yes. i know that we have our regular update about the new permitting system. i also think that there were some lingering issues that were -- we were trying to resolve with the key matic. it would be good to check the

so, so, i think this follows up on commissioner walker's question, is when a field inspector goes out, maybe there might be more gray area than fire. i don't know all the code. what if a field inspector code goes out and says this thing was stamped, this is not up to code. what happens then? >> [speaker not understood]. we approved it. >> what happens then? >> okay, tom, acting director. as soon as i take over the office since last year and then you see from the website and then we pass out an information sheet, what is a common issue for a small project first, okay. then to resolve those issues uniformly, we have a joint meeting, we have fire department with us and staff that discuss all those issues, i am out, we send information to all staff including inspection. everybody will be agreed. this is the -- because the interpretation from the code, [speaker not understood] issue and all those stuff, [speaker not understood]. and then by the time to discuss the code, staff can go in there and listen and have objection or opinion and then try to [speaker not understood]. small project, a

commissioner walker. >> i think one of the things that we struggle with here is when we have our abatement appeals and we have a case that's had a open violation for seven years. so, i wonder if there is anything -- i know our system is being updated, the computer system that will help keep track of this kind of thing. is there anything in the building code that really forces us in a more -- gives us the authority to move on these so that we don't have old violations around, seven years, four years, that kind of thing? >> yeah, we've been very proactive on our complaints and notice of violations. we're looking up the older violations, we're looking at the older complaints and trying to move them forward. either close the complaint or issue the second notice. there is some notice of violations that are out there, but we have to relook at and start going -- proceed with the process. that number, i wouldn't know. i'd have to go to code enforce many and see if we can get some type of number. >> i think it would be helpful, but also i think that we've been talking a little bit about making, you

former commissioner rob miguel. trisha, alex walker. >> commissioners, ron miguel, first i would like to welcome to the grandparents club. you will enjoy it as i have for the last 34 years and you will be a proud member. as to the item before you; i like it. i understand the changes as to size, structure and lighting. i was a retail merchant in the neighborhood commercial area of san francisco, for over 25 years, and involved with the association for over 40 years. i have seen everything from the anglo california national bank to go out. i have seen changes in funeral parlors where many have gone out of business and merged with others and many changes to names. my personal example, my family had a flower shop since 1989 and i sold it to someone with another name, all of her business cards, all of her labels says flowers. hers is difference. that sign was made in the 40s and not conforming. she can't change that sign without totally taking it down which is expensive and putting up a total new one plus it has the 40s design on it. it's a