. >> president hwang: good evening. welcome to thezs!:# december 12 2012 meeting of the san francisco board of0xjh appeals. president chris hwang, franknnjy fung, commissioner. to my left is deputy city attorney robert brian who will provide thec i'm cynthia goldstein the board's executive director. we are joined by city departments5c%( qez that have cases before the board. scott sanchez, zoning administrator, and planning department and planning commission, stey, representing the department of building inspection john quawng. the board requests you turn off9k%z!ñ or silence all phones and other thereinh[9k7t devices. please carry on conversations in the hallway. the board's rules of presentation are as follows.rhce appellants permit holders have seven minutes each to present their case and three minutes for rebuttal. people affiliated with these parties must conclude within these three or seven minutes. members of the public have up to three minutes each to address the8 9m board and no rebuttal. please speak into the end of the micropho

thank you veryq6( sí much. >> president hwang: thank you.ann thornton and i am making these statements as i have an interest in the unit across the street, 129 and 131 fillmore street. and i would like to argue against giving more time on this garage. on 20 -- 10-24 the board -- thiferred extension to construct his garage. appellant is claiming his disabilities justify construction of the garage and explain why p4he's taken so long to move on[" our position is that the reason he did=" project was not due to his disabilities but working on his illegal conversion of a three unit building to a hotel a change he got approved after the fact of they& controversial before the planning commission in september 2011. when the commission split on the ex-facto approval of the post conversion of his building to an sro. by the way it was not a unanimousgzj9 hearing. our reasons for joining appellant !z deborah stott and reviewing the variance are these. this building permit was based on the assumption that the three story automatic garage was a separate s

the presiding officer this evening is board president chris hwang who is engined by vice president frank fung, commissioner [a-ers/]ia hurtado and commissioner ann lazarus and welcome to our newest member commissioner honda. deputy [khr-frpb/] or city attorney will provide the board with any needed legal advice and the legal process clerk and i'm cynthia goldstein and we're joined by departments scott sanchez here, the zoning administrator and also representing the planning department and planning commission. joseph dusty representing the department of building inspection, and department of would now like to, urban foresty. the board requests that you turn off longer devices so they will not disturb the proceedings. please carry on conversations in the hallway. appellants, permit-holders and department responds have seven presents to preponderant their case. people must include their comments with the 7 or 3-minute periods. members of public not affiliated with the partis have up to three minutes to address the board and no rebuttal. please speak into the microphone. to assist the board

>> good evening president hwang, board members. mark ruberg with united taxi cab workers. i wanted to raise some concerns that i had in connection with the hearing that you held last month on our jurisdiction request. i don't want to re-argue the issue, which would be pointless, but i want to call your attention to some troubling aspects of that hearing:instead it relied on a confidential city attorney's memorandum, which put us at a disadvantage. the mta got to see our arguments while we didn't get to see theirs. that was partially rectified when president hwang provided the memorandum and gave us an opportunity to address it and i thank her for that, but don't think that was a proper procedure. the memorandum itself raises a question. it was co-authored by mr. brian who advises this board and julia, who advises the mta, the mta being a party to the proceeding and as a result, i don't believe that you received independent and objective advoice on this issue. i think there should have been a firewall between the advice entered to the counsel and this board and the meeting

on that, commission hwang? >> aye. >> we will move to 4 a, i understand that the attorney and we could move forward it >> okay, this is 4 a and two rehearing requests, at 2750 larkin street and the board received a letter from ellman and huangfu requesting rehearing of appeals 12-090 and 091 decided on october 17th, at that time the board voted 4-1 with one vacancy to up hold the subject permit on the basis that it is code compliant. permit holder is peter fento, and the project to demolish the rear wall building new ad dish to the rear while conforming to the residential design guidelines by stepping back in the two directions. >> good evening, commissioners, and the attorney on behalf of the appellants, seligmam and i am here here today to ask for a rehearing and that the subject permit be set aside until all of the refractions related to the property have been cured. this request is based on a flurry of last-minute applications that were filed after our october 17th hearing. >> therefore, if under the new ma

hwang? >> good evening, commissioners, once again. the departments procedures as it relates to mobile food has always been fairly transparent. through our director's order. it is posted on the website for the general public to review. there is in our process a notification requirement by mail to all merchants and businesses within 300 feet of the proposed location as i have repeated several times to the members of this board. we also are required under the law to also provide notification if a merchant is working after hours, specifically. and in certain cases check with the san francisco police department to ensure that these facilities are appropriate. in this case, we believe that we are follow our procedures correctly and processed the permit accordingly. and also this specific decision was also a measured response in many ways to the previous decision through what was coffee and then to director given by this board itself. i really have nothing else to add. i am prepared to answer any questions that you may have. >> thank you. >>

. >> president hwang? >> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> and commissioner honda? >> aye. >> that motion carries and the permit is upheld. thank you. >> i would like to call item no. 6 and i want to make sure that thetern for the appellant in that case is in the room. could you raise your hand if you are here, mr. girardi? excellent, just walked into the room. appeal no. 12-085, cambon connoisseur cooperative, inc. versus the zoning administrator. 33 cambon drive aka 6-85 cambon drive, appealing a letter of determination dated july 10 20 12 addressed to matthew girardi regarding whether a medical cannabis dispensary use would be permitted at the subject property. >> my name is matthew girardi and i'm a lawyer and represent the managing patient members of a proposed collective called cambon connoisseur collective and we're challenging a letter of did determination issued by mr. sanchez in which he found 33 cambon drive is not a suitable location for a mcmcd site because it may be within 1,000 feet of a park, namely the merced playground. california law mandates that

all i can do is try to impress upon you what president hwang said to talk to each other and if there are problems to go to dbi or dpw and this is not the forum to solve those problems. >> did you make a motion? >> i will move to uphold the permit on the basis that it is code-compliant. >> okay. there is a by the vice president to uphold the permit on the basis it's code-compliant on that motion, president hwang? >> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> commissioner lazarus? >> aye. >> commissioner honda? >> aye. >> that motion is upheld and president hwang that concludes the business before this meeting. >> we're adjourned. [ gavel ]

all i can do is try to impress upon you what president hwang said to talk to each other and if there are problems to go to dbi or dpw and this is not the forum to solve those problems. >> did you make a motion? >> i will move to uphold the permit on the basis that it is code-compliant. >> okay. there is a by the vice president to uphold the permit on the basis it's code-compliant on that motion, president hwang? >> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> commissioner lazarus? >> aye. >> commissioner honda? >> aye. >> that motion is upheld and president hwang that concludes the business before this meeting. >> we're adjourned. [ gavel ] >> i have 2 job titles. i'm manager of the tour program as well as i am the historyian of city hall. this building is multifaceted to say the very least it's a municipal building that operates the city and county of san francisco. this building was a dream that became a reality of a man by the name of james junior elected mayor of san francisco in 1912. he didn't have a city hall because it was destroyed in the earth wake of 1906. construction began i

on that motion to deny the request president hwang, aye. commissioner hurtado, aye.ommissioner lazarus, aye. commissioner honda, aye. >> that is passed and notice ofa decision will b┘:z(5 issued tomorrow. thanky,9khó you. item 4(b) is another rehearing request at 498 hoffman avenue a letter from2b:y allen sowle appellants requesting rehearing of appeal 12-117 decided november 7, 2012. at that time the board voted"8btw iho 2-1-2 vice president fung dissented commissioner hurtado absent on the basis that there was no error or -- three out of four votes required to be overturn a modified action whenéd!elc"p% a vacancy exists letter ofy determination was upheld by law. the regarding the legal dwelling unit. my understanding commissioners hurtado and honda have reviewed the video there for this hearing and are >> that's correct. >> good evening. my name is alan sowle. we're here because extraordinarybb:z<éf";f circumstances exist and rehearing is needed to prevent injustice because new acheddgg:z"y different facts and circumstances have been discovered relevant to the hea

president hwang? >> aye commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> commissioner lazarus? >> aye. >> and commissioner honda? >> aye. >> that motion carries and this item will be carried to the date with the briefing as specified. we're going to take a short break. [ gavel ] >> welcome back to the december 5th, 2012 meeting of the san francisco board of directors of appeals and we're calling items 8a and 8b, 8a is appeal no. 12-124 at property 690 post street and b3 is apole 12-125 at 642 jones street. both filed by courtney utt and proficienting the issuance of permits to alter a building, installation of a gate between 691 post and 642 jones in front of an alley. per cal this is on for hearing today and we'll start with miss utt, you have 14 minutes to present your case. you don't need to take all 14 minutes, but you can if you want it. [ inaudible ] >> go ahead. >> i would like to ask that a few things be done, if you do keep it. i'm sorry. i can start over. my name is courtney and i live at 691 post. i am asking for full revocation of the alley gate. however, if the boa

. >> president hwang: mr. sanchez. >> thankxh scott sanchez, planning department.e, the hearing that we had on this item was on november 7. the rehearing request was filed on our response would have been due on november 26, which is the same day that8& appellant received information from pg&e, at least that's what the records are dated so we did not receive the -- m0jpd until earlyb'( o0 1"ujttjt 4, after we had our ability to submit a response. first pg&e records are not evidence of a legality -- or of a legal unit. the appellantm.nív÷ has stated they bought the property in 1997. at the time they bought it, it was a four unit building. however i would note according to records they provided the4( -< fourth electric meter wasn't added untilu0 for each electric unit, would they argue they have four units on the property? i think that's an open question. again it's not evidenc%i í=Ñ of a legal unit. we go by the records of the building inspection. as stated inaj hearing we believe there was an error in the records. there was a cfc4#b!Ñbç issued to reduce the number o

president hwang how much time? >> how many speakers? >> okay, three minutes. >> my name is jamie patrick and i am here with patrick and company in san francisco. i am speaking on behalf of or as a business owner with retail within the second street corridor, property owner. owning four different properties on the second street corridor. as well as a landlord with restaurants within that second street corridor. my family has been operating a business at that location just after the earthquake. and i can tell you every day, i have been working there 15 years, every day, another coffee place opens on that second street corridor. whether they are specifically coffee, or they have or sell other things, from 6:00 in the morning to 10 in the morning their primary business is coffee. and the more that we take away and add businesses such as a coffee cart or a coffee truck, my fear is that these companies that are paying for property tax, that are paying for high rents are going to go out of business and to me that is a shame. how would someone

. >> thank you, good afternoon president hwang, members of the board and welcome commissioner honda and look forward to working with you. scott sanchez for the planning department, the subject roproperty is located with an nc s, a neighborhood-commercial shopping sister zoning district. there are very few of these. it's a mall essentially a larger parcel. we did review several letter of determination requests related to the usablability usable of the site for medical cannabis dispensary and found that the property was located within a thousand fee of merced playground that contains a recreation center serving people underage 18 years of age. on march 8th, 2012 mr. girardi requested the possibility of locating a mcd. and we issued a letter of determination stating it was within a thousand feet. i would note that there was a discretionary review filed that was filed after the letter of determination was submitted. it was filed march 16th, 2012, canceled the same day that the letter of determination was issued. the letter of determination as standard boil plate language saying that if you

on that motion, vice president fung,9 president hwang, aye. commissioner lazarus aye.2i-that motion isad,bhó granted. the board's prior decision is thrown fresh with a new briefing and a new hearing date on march 20,.,b 2013. thank you% 5 $jpi>w . 4-c rehearing request regarding subject property at 150 california street, the board received a letter from second street merchants requesting rehearing of appeal 12-126d,b!mh-!m decided november 147mk,7÷ 2012. at the time the board votedl 2-2-1, to uphold them(c mobile food facility permit on the basis that the salekój expresso drinks is not like food under dpw's guidelines. three out of four pÃvotes being required to modify a departmental action when vacancy exists the permit wasu <';oç operation. my understanding is that commissioner honda, who is not a member of the board at thatb time, has reviewed the video and is preparedbq >> commissioner honda: i have reviewed the video and am ready to participate. >> we will start with theé[ requester. threerw >> allison rowe from harvest and rowe. my -- is=bib feet --e review tab 1

president hwang. >> how many more matters do we have tonight? >> no. 9. >> the two joint items. >> okay. we'll give them three minutes. >> okay. >> if you haven't already filled out a speaker card, we would appreciate if you could do that either before you come up or after you are done speaking and if you could hand the card to the clerk when you come up to speak. that would be great. >> good evening. my name is angela lopez and live at 481 guerrero and i'm here today to appeal to your sense of justice and to plead that for one moment you place yourself in our shoes. let me emphasize that i am not against mr. kamal opening up his business and you'll i'm asking that he take the necessary measures to lessen the impact that an industrial hood on our roof will have. without utilizing anything to lessen the noise and vibration levels will definitely -- will definitely disrupt the peace and tranquility in our home, especially that of my mother who suffers from alzheimer's and my brother, who is ill. i want to bring to your attention that we do not hav

. >> president hwang and commissioners in the past when there is a life safety issue dbi has been allowed to authorize work to take place to resolve the life safety issue. >> yes. >> so i think that authority already exists with dbi, if there is a concern about egress, they would have the authority to have that addressed even though the permit is suspended. >> okay. >> >> i am the project sponsor. as you noticed they jumped to the conclusion before you gave the vote. this is the mentality to rush of the tenant, to rush whoever is front of them. supervisor wiener asked can you help and i said sure. if you look at the screen over here, it shows the blower on top of the roof. that is a humungous blower, the blower we're using is a mushroom type. it's only 100-pounds, sitting on the metal going across the width of the building. so there would be no vibration. >> what are you showing us a picture of? >> the blower. >> some other blower. >> okay. we gave you an opportunity. >> and this is the construction -- this is the construction well that has to be removed. >> okay. >> i don't think -- >> i

. >> on that motion, president hwang? >> aye. >> commissioner hurtado? >> aye. >> commissioner lazarus? >> aye. >> thank you, the vote is 4-0. the permit is upheld on that basis. >> if you have a process question, you may address the staff, either at their office or after this meeting, okay? >> the staff has requested a recess so they can switch the generator source or something like that? >> okay, we will >> thank you all for your patience. there was a fire in this building yesterday, that is why we had a delay. >> we will go to appeal 12-099 mohammad hourian. we will start with the appellant. >> please step forward. >> you have seven minutes to