Provide the board with any needed legal advice. Im julie rosen, the boards executive director. We will be joined by the city departments who have cases before us this evening. Up front, we have scott sanchez, and we expect joe duffy, representing the department of building inspection. The Board Meeting guidelines are as follows. The board requests you turnoff all cell phones and electronic devices. Carrie on all conversations out in the hallway. Parties will be given seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for rebuttal. Members that are not parties have three minutes each for comment and no rebuttal. For continued cases, the parties get three minutes each with no rebuttal. For accuracy, you are requested to fill out a speaker card when you come to the podium. Four votes are required to pass a matter. The meeting will run until 10 00 p. M. This meeting is broadcast live on sfgov tv, cable channel 78 and will be rebroadcast on fridays at 4 00 on channel 26. Now we will swear in or affirm all those who intend to testify. Please note that any member of the public may testify without swearing pursuant to the sunshine ordinance. If you want the board to give your testimony evidentiary weight, please stand if you are able and raise your right hand. Do you answer or affirm that the testimony you will give tonight will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . Okay. Is there any member of the public here for general Public Comment . Okay. We will then move onto item number 2, commissioner comments and questions. President swig commissioners, comments and questions . Okay. Moving on. Clerk okay. So we will move onto item number 3. Commissioners, before you for discussion and possible adoption are the minutes of the november 6, 2019 Board Meeting. I would like to let you know that mr. Zack carnezi who spoke during the last meeting, would like us to correct his last name. His last name ends with an h, not a k, and he would like us to know that it took the board of forestry almost three months to respond to his emails. President swig any other corrections or comments . Can we have a motion to accept the minutes from last meeting, including the corrections on Public Comment, please . Commissioner honda i motion. Clerk okay. Is this your motion . Commissioner honda correct. Clerk okay. Is there any Public Comment on that motion . We have a motion to adopt the minutes by commissioner hondas stated. [roll call] clerk okay. That motion carries 40, and the minutes are adopted. We are moving onto item number 4, 19014, ed van roden versus department of building inspection. I dont see joe duffy here [inaudible] okay. Thank you. [agenda item read]. Clerk note, on october 23, 2019, the board voted 401 to continue the matter until october 29, 2019 so that staff can conduct a site visit and d. B. I. Can prepare a report. And as a side note, Commission Commissioner santacana, did you have a chance to review the video and review the case . I did, and im ready to proceed. Clerk okay. We will hear from joe duffy, department of building inspection. Can you turn the microphone on, please . Commissioner honda i want to hear every bit that joe says, every bit. Clerk did you want to test it . I dont think its okay. Its not working yet. Commissioner honda did the i. T. Guy have to come on up or did he fix that yet . We might have to get an overflow room tonight. President swig can you try the other mic . Commissioner honda karaoke night is. Clerk can you press p. C. . Is there a little button that says commissioners president swig oh, there are those lovely irish tones. Clerk folks, we need the entranceexit clear for fire reasons. We do have an overflow in the south light court. Please move away from the door. Thank you. Commissioners, on the staff report, i do have a brief staff report. We just did our visit last friday, and just had time to do a brief report. Its just a page long. Is it okay to submit this . President swig sure. Clerk okay. And i shared it with the permit holder and the appellant just now. I think it was 11 or 12 12 copies . Commissioner honda okay. Do i get four votes tonight . Okay. I guess this works. Thank you, katie. Yes, commissioners. So we did indeed do a site visit. It just happened there last friday, on november 8, and it was we only heard this a couple of weeks ago. So i was trying to give you an overview of it. So on friday afternoon at 1 30, chief building inspector patrick oreardon, senior building inspector Patrick Hernandez and i went to the scene. I just prepared a report on friday. Before i read the staff report, i will say we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of work that has been done. Even though its 20 years, but recently, it looks like theres been progress made, and i think they are heading in the right direction. At the meeting we gave, the permit holder was there, and the appellant was there, as well. We gave everybody the opportunity to speak, if everybody had any questions. The appellant was allowed into the construction with his engineer. It was a pretty cordial meeting. Everyone was you know, no one was getting overly excited. We did have 20 years of Building Permits, but the project is contained in about five permits. You would have condoned the permits to d. B. I. To allow the work to continue. Thats why theres a number of Building Permits. So the legal use of the building when the work is completed will be a commercial building with office use and a single retail dwelling unit. The building will be single story with a basement. D. B. I. Staff met with the permit holder and a construction team. The appellant for the permit under pay was also present along with a structural engineer. The area to be inspected included the building and basement area of the building. The bulk of the actual work is contained within five Building Permit applications. The remaining Building Permits that were issued are administrative permits to allow the project to continue under the Building Permit process. The building has been undergoing regular inspections from d. B. I. Inspection. In addition, the inspector has been in regular contact with the contract engineer and Property Owner. The current contractor appears to have a good understanding of how the project will be finished in a timely manner. D. B. I. Also inspected the ground floor of the appellants property and the ground slab where there are concerning cracking and doors that would not close properly. We did encourage the neighbors to Work Together if the work is to be completed on 3516 sacramento street. It is recommended that the Building Permit under appeal be upheld and issued. This will allow any needed repair work to be done at the adjacent property. D. B. I. Staff will be monitoring the site very closely, and we will respond to the neighbors concerns in a timely manner. Im available to answer any questions. Just finally, as well, they did have a pretty impressive plans were let out, permits were let out. They did have an impressive history its always nice when you see everything laid out on a table with tabs and monitors, and everything was organized. We did have a good conversation with the engineer of record, and i did ask if he was going to come to the hearing if you have any questions, so i think hes available, as well. If you have any questions, i have inspection history and stuff like that. Ive got drawings with me, but i dont know if the neighbor the appellant is totally happy with everything, but i think weve came a long way from when we started. President swig are there any questions from anyone . Commissioner honda so i know you mentioned in the hearing that the project has been going on for 20 years. Do you have any objections to the permit if we allow it to go forward . President swig may i add, because its gone on 20 years and limped along, can we consider putting a condition on, this must be done by this or without a penalty . Commissioner honda i dont think thats really enforceable. I dont think thats enforceable, either. I was thinking about this when i was writing the report. D. B. I. Has the right to revoke a permit, and there are times when you can revoke a permit due to code. We dont usually hold peoples you know, we dont always come down hard on people on that, but in this case, we should. We got an undertaking from the Property Owner and we spoke to her friday, that she wants to get this complete. Shes got quite a ways, theres still quite a bit of work left to do, but the structural part, thats going to be completed hopefully with the issuance of this permit. And monitoring on the properties will be pretty good, and that would be something id recommend, maybe a condition commissioner honda so monitoring how often would you guess . Well, the fellowshtypical mg is done at you can have it done every few months and you get report. We recommend it is not recommended by our building code, but it is recommended on projects like that. Theyll be able to take readings every three months. Commissioner honda i just think this has gone on enough time already, and your suggestion is probably what were going to do. Id like us to probably follow this a little closer so they continue to report progress. Yeah. One thing i noticed last friday is the contractor thats on there now, this is a different contractor than what started the project. Commissioner honda i know it is. I know its a different project contractor. There was an illness and a death. Im not making excuses, but i think the project at that time may not have been that good, as well. I definitely got a good feel. There was at least ten people representing the permit holder last week, and then, we had the neighbor, as well. Commissioner honda sorry to interrupt, senior inspector, but the concern is because of the length of the time of the permit, it has affected the neighboring properties. At which point, its just a matter of California Law that you have to maintain the property on your side and the lateral support should be maintains for tha maintains maintained for that. Correct. And we dont get into the blame game at d. B. I. , but thats got to be figured out. I think thats up to the insurance companies, and theres probably going to be some settlement there, as well. Mr. Van roden has emailed us, asking for a few other things, and i can respond to him, and d. B. I. Can talk to him, as well. Well look into it. I have assured him that he will get response from building division. I think lack of response he got earlier this year was the plan check division, and ive spoken to some staff down there. He didnt get responses to emails from them, but now, he has a good point of contact hopefully at d. B. I. Commissioner honda what part of the building did you want to inspect that you did not have access to . Well, it was a neighbors property. There was some cracking on walls, and we didnt get to see those. I dont know how much it is, but apparently theres some cracking on plaster in the upper unit. Commissioner honda okay. Thank you. Clerk thank you. We will now hear from the permit holder. Mr. Salam, are you going to clerk ok [inaudible] clerk okay. So you have three minutes. If you could identify yourself, too, please. Sorry . Clerk your name, please . My name is [inaudible] clerk okay. You have three minutes. Weve designed and got it for the city permit of the temporary shoring of this 22foot section that was going to be a little deeper than the old permit drawings was approved, so we took it down about 10 foot, and we got it approved, and we submitted calculations and everything. Thats it. Clerk okay. Commissioner honda yes. You done . So the question is when were you brought onto the project, sir . As an engineer, we were asked about a year and a half ago. About a year and a half ago. The old original engineer that did all the approved drawings either is no longer around or is he hes retired. Commissioner honda so we cant do anything what happened in the past, but Going Forward, you feel confident that theres not going to be more pauses or 20year gaps . No. We know for sure that its going to be a few months before its all completed. Commissioner honda thank you, sir. Clerk thank you. Can you fill out a speaker card, please . Okay. I do have a business card. Clerk okay. You have some remaining time. Did you want to use it . Okay. So well now hear from the appellant. Commissioner honda good evening. Welcome back. Clerk you have three minutes. Thank you. Yes. We went over on friday. Overall, im satisfied with whats there. Its a little disappointing, though, that the plans have changed and are not consistent with what d. B. I. Is seeing because im catching this and d. B. I. Is not. My only request is there should be some time of elevation survey to be able to pick a point now most of the damage is over, just to see that theres no additional leaning or damage or trouble to my foundation is my request. And you dont have reason to think that through the Insurance Company process thatll be done . Why no. No . They had told me to say to ask the owner to do it. Have you done that . Well, im asking now. Question. When youre talking about the plans changing, i think we discussed that before when you were here, that you wanted to know what the actual plans were, and what t the ones on file. Were you able to talk to the engineer . Yeah. And we caught some mistakes on the depth that was shown on the plans. In terms of the current depth, the existing depth. How far theyve dug, what the plans said, what the new plan said. So a discrepancy being the plans, then, and the work that was being done on the actual property . Yes. Thats troubling, but as you said, its something we want to make sure that gets monitored very closely but professional monitoring to make sure no further damage happens to your property. My only other request, and joe, perhaps you can verify, that work has to be done within 180 days or less, is that correct, joe . Yes. Okay. So just to give everybody a little bit of a time limit. President swig so it is selfgoverning. I hope so. Commissioner honda unfortunately, the governing is somewhat limited, to be honest, but i think having it before this body, and the project sponsor, they do not want to come in front of this body again, because it will be a little different the second time around. Clerk anything further . No. Thank you. Clerk is there any Public Comment on this item . Okay. Commissioners, this matters submitted. President swig okay. Comments . It seems to me the condition to impose monitoring on the property, perhaps this elevation survey could be conditions of approval on the permit . Commissioner honda i would support that. And as a side note, i mean, unfortunately, this project has gone on since 1998, before some of my children were born, and so its good to see that the project sponsor in good faith is Going Forward, and it looks like the departments have assured its Going Forward and will be completed, so i have faith that it will. And again, to the project sponsor, you really do not want to come back before this body again. It would not be a good situation. President swig is it necessary or appropriate to notice in the motion that this is an n. O. V. A response to an n. O. V. And note the time limit or is that going to take care of itself . Commissioner honda no. He says its selfgoverning, and the fact that its probably unenforceable at this point. I mean, since the permit has gone on with multiple renewals since 1998. So i think with additional monitoring to ensure that thats taking place, and if youre asking for additional monitoring commissioner tanner yeah. I think the monitoring and the neighboring Foundation Property both on that property and the neighboring property i think the monitoring should be in place before the construction resumes and then would occur reports every three months, is that your suggestion . Commissioner honda can we have joe come up. Is that your recommendation or maybe you can tell us what the departments recommending. So theres a survey and monitoring every three months. There are companies that do that, and the owner will have to hire somebody to do that. And they will do that, and the neighbor has requested that. Clerk so will that be every two months . If you want to say commissioner tanner how long will this project take, the work thats in the scope of the permit . Well, i think this the scope of work thats in this permit, thats going to give them 180 days, and i think thats plenty of time. Mr. Van roden is talking about an enforcement notice. The permit itself is good for 360 days minimum. I cant change that, but we can have that the notice ask that the notice of violation be enforced to the best of d. B. I. S ability and within the time limits given. The monitoring on the timeline for the monitoring, i dont want them to have to do it any longer than they need to. So there shouldnt be any movement of this building unless theres excavation needed. You can ask over the next six months that monitoring be done. That would be something, or i can take it back to d. B. I. And see what our engineering recommend, so on the recommendation of d. B. I. , if you want to put that in the decision, that would be better for you . Commissioner tanner yeah. I think im going to propose survey monitoring begin before the project resumes and continuing every 60 days until the scope of work on this project will be concluded. Because while we think it will be within the next 180 days, its not a guarantee, so the next 60 days will be fine. Can i just comment on something . The approved plans on the site match the approved plans on d. B. I. S records. If he wants to go to review the plans, he can do them at any member of the public can. If he sees a difference, tell us the sheet number and well look into it. As far as were concerned, when we approve a set of plans, we keep the copy. I think he did see drawings during review that changed from approval. Thats a completely different process and is understandable actually. Commissioner tanner okay. Thank you. President swig motion . Commissioner tanner so i would move to grant the appeal and condition the permit to include survey monitoring to begin before the work under the permit begins and to be recorded every 60 days. That monitoring should be on the neighboring property as well as the subject property. Clerk im sorry. It should be on the neighbors property. Commissioner tanner as well as the subject property. Clerk okay. On the basis and on what basis . Commissioner tanner that this is in the best i