Coordinator, manager for department of building inspection. Now, the Board Meeting guidelines are as follows. The board requests that you turn off or silence all phones and other Electronic Devices so they will not disturb the proceedings. No eating or drinking in the hearing room. The rules of presentation are as follows. Appellants permit holders and Department Respondents each are given seven minutes to present their case and three minutes for rebuttal. All people affiliated with these parties must include their comments within these 7 or 3 minute periods. Members of the public who are not affiliated with the parties have up to three minutes each to address the board and no rebuttal. Mr. Longway, our legal assistant, will give you a verbal warning 30s before your time is up. Four votes are required to grant an appeal or to modify a permit or determination. Even if you have questions about requesting a rehearing, the board rules or hearing schedules, please email board staff at board of appeals at sf gov. Org now Public Access and participation are of paramount importance to the board. Sf govtv is broadcasting and streaming this hearing live and we will have the ability to receive Public Comment for each item on todays agenda. Sf govtv is also providing closed captioning for this meeting to watch the hearing on tv, go to sf gov tv cable channel 78. Please note that it will be rebroadcast on fridays at 4 p. M. On channel 26. A link to the live stream is found on the home page of our website at sf. Org forward slash voa now Public Comment can be provided in three ways one in person, two via zoom. Go to our website and click on the zoom link, which is found in the hearing section. Please note um, okay. Three uh, Public Comment can be provided by telephone call 1669 906 833 and enter webinar. Id 87417867575. 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If you are a participant and youre not speaking, please put your zoom speaker on mute. So, commissioners, we do have one housekeeping item. Item number five, appeal number 23, dash 069 at 46 homestead street has been withdrawn and will not be heard tonight. So well move along to item number one. General Public Comment. This is an opportunity for anyone whod like to speak on a matter within the boards jurisdiction, but that is not on tonights calendar. Is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on an item that is not on tonights agenda . I dont see anyone in the room. I see one hand raised on zoom. Richard rothman, please go ahead. You need to unmute. Yes good evening. Commissioners my name is Richard Rothman and i understand youre going to be hearing the upper great highway appeal again. We are asking for a hearing and i would suggest that, uh, you take a trip out to jfk and the chain of lakes on a friday afternoon around 330 and all. Ill say is you can see the effects of closing the upper great highway on friday afternoon in golden gate park. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Is there any further general Public Comment . Please raise your hand. I dont see any. So well move on to item number two. Commissioner comments and questions. Commissioners. I think were i think were good. Okay. Thank you. We are now moving on to item number three, the adoption of the minutes commissioners before you for discussion of possible adoption of the minutes of the february 21st, 2024 meeting and prior to the hearing, i spoke with deputy Zoning Administrator tina tam about item seven. This is appeal number 24. Dash 001 at 680 1 12 avenue. This was the case that had the proposed ceramic studio in back. And miss tam clarified that the Planning Commissions decision was made based on the plans dated september 21st, 2022, not september 1st, as reflected in the draft minutes. Consequently the draft minutes should be amended to reflect this correction commissioner, i move to adopt the minutes of the february 21st, 2024 meeting with the tina tam correction. Okay okay. Is there any Public Comment on this motion . Please raise your hand. I dont see any. So on the motion to adopt, as amended by tina tam, uh, by commissioner trasvina, uh, president lopez. Aye. Vice president. Lemberg. Aye commissioner epler i commissioner swig i that motion carries 5 to 0, and the minutes are adopted, as amended. Okay we are now moving on to item number four. This is a special item. The department of building inspection will discuss the Solar Photovoltaic permit process in San Francisco. So uh, welcome and thank you for spending your wednesday evening with us. Thank you. Its my honor. Uh, president lopez, Vice President lindbergh and commissioners, uh, my name is james zhang. I am the Senior Engineer and manager of the specialty plan review for the department of building inspection. Specialty review covers, uh, mechanical and electrical, uh, plan review and so solar pv permitting is really , uh, within my jurisdiction. And that is why, uh, i come to you this evening to do this presentation. Um first off, id like to brief you, uh, the new solar, uh, roof requirement under the California Energy standard. Uh we have the under the new code effective, uh, one 123. Uh, we have a enhanced expanded solar requirement in the past code cycle. Uh, it was pretty much a solar readiness requirement requiring the building designate a certain area on the rooftop for solar, for future solar installation. But come this 2022 code cycle. Uh, it actually requires the actual installation of the solar pv system. Uh, based on. On either the Building Size and usage, uh, or or, uh, the minimum. Um, uh, uh, solar power , uh, wattage based on the useful roof area, i. E. The solar access roof area or sarah. Um, they also are applicable this requirement are also applicable for new multifamily and most of the new commercial buildings. Um, next, im going to talk about the solar, uh, the contractor eligible to pull solar permits. So they are, uh, the a class contractor, general engineering contractor, or c10, uh, who are the Electrical Contractor or c40 six uh, solar, uh, contractor with doubt the ability of installing the Battery Energy storage system. Um, uh, the general contractor to, uh, be licensed contractor are also eligible to pull permits for solar system provided the solar system is part of the new constructions. Uh, now, what type of permit can a solar pv system be permitted . Most of the, uh, solar pv installation could be permitted by electrical trade permit. Uh, and trade permit only. For the trade permit. Uh uh, is quicker to issue the cost of the permit is not as much as as the Building Permit. Um, so for the, uh, over close to 1200 solar permit, uh, that dbe issued in the last year, uh, only 6 of the, uh, eight, less than 8 of all the solar permits require a Building Permit. So under what circumstances . The pv system requires solar permit. Um, only under the circumstances that the building structural enhancement is required to support such solar system. Then and only then, a Building Permit is required and. Um in terms of solar inspection, uh, the method of or require amount of solar inspection are based on the Solar Systems capacity. If its under four kilowatt. Um then the contractor or the homeowner can require test schedule a electrical inspection and electrical inspection only online. On uh with dbe website, uh, for the for the solar permit holder that are using solar plus. Solar plus is a online platform, um, uh, mandated by, by, uh, by the state, um, for our jurisdiction, for jurisdiction of our size is mandated by by the end of september 2023. Uh, jurisdiction must have a online permitting platform, uh, to streamline and expedite the solar permit. So for those permit holders using solar plus, they are required to get their system, inspect it by Fire Department before they can call for electrical inspection. Now, the last type of permit building Building Permit holder are required to get their pv system inspected. Also by, uh, Fire Department and by Electrical Inspection Division before they can schedule a final inspection with the building inspector. Now um, i would like to devote the next, uh, few, uh, slides, uh, address using the california solar rights act and solar. It is meant, um, the california solar rights act limits, uh, the ccnrs and local governments restriction on, uh, on the solar pv installation based on california civil code section seven, 14 and seven 14. 1 um, the act also established the legal right to a solar easement, which protects the access of the sunlight, uh, across adjacent property. Um, it also describes the minimum required isnt needed to create such a solar easement. Um, the related code section is california civil code section 801 and 801. 5, um. However for obtaining a solar easement, um could be difficult and costly because, uh, an easement has to be based on bilateral negotiation of the, um, of the Property Owner, uh, on which the solar system is installed with the neighboring, uh, Property Owner. And that that that could be time consuming. And uh, the legal cost of crafting and, and, uh, validating such a easement, uh, could be substantial as well. Um i like to share a relevant, uh, court case. That kind of established a precedence on, on, uh, solar, uh, easement. And that is the zebra with the county of santa clara. Um the case is the basic facts of the case is as follows. Back in 1997, the, uh, the county of santa clara purchased a land parcel that is next to, uh, this zephyrus, uh, development. Um, they are 5 or 6 trees at the time. Back in 1997, um, and. Back then the trees height, uh, did not impose any. He did not cast any shade on the neighbors. Uh, solar system. But over the next 15 years, uh, those trees grows. 10 to 15ft per year. So by 2024 or 2023, those trees has grown to a height of over 100ft. So so they really cast, uh, very substantial shade, shade on the pv system. Um, on the property and the Property Owner noticed their, uh, solar system really starts malfunctioning because of the lack of sunlight not being able to reach their, uh, 15 year old solar system. Um, so they take the, uh, they take the county. Well, despite the fact that the county has made verbal promise that. They will trim the tree, uh, to the height that they they will not impact, um, the functionality of the pv in such a significant way. They, um, that the bottom line is the county did not carry out their promise, and that remains a concern. So, uh, zephyrus took them to court in 2024. And after you know, this legal fight and maneuvers, um, the, uh, the presiding judge, uh, ruled that the, um, in favor of the county for the reason that there was not a written, um, solar, uh, easement agreement in writing in immeasurable terms is so, um. They, um, they they are a few essentials, uh, required to make an enforceable, uh, solar easement agreement. And the most important thing is that it the easement solar easement must be expressed in writing in a measurable terms. It must be, uh, also specify under what circumstances the easements condition could be altered or terminated. But in this case, none of them exist. So the end result is that the court ruled in the county of santa claras favor. So thats my, uh, brief presentation. And heres, uh, uh, my contact and my associates contact at, um, uh, as you may know, uh, d. B. Has two functional arms. One is, uh, the permitting side or the plan review side, uh, with which im working. Uh, and the other arm is inspection and the pv inspection, uh, really falls into the jurisdiction of ide. Electrical inspection. And i also list the chief electrical inspector. Uh, ken birx contact information. So um, if any of you or any of your constituents have won our need, our assistance, uh, please encourage them to, uh. Get ahold of us and well be happy to assist. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. We do have a few questions. Questions . Commissioner swig, and then thank you very much. Thank you for that presentation. Very informative. And now im going to put a couple of real life spins on it so that you can testify for the record to, uh, clarify to the public a couple of what ifs. Uh, we had a what if, um, where, uh, somebody was adding, uh, a height onto an outdoor building. Somebody had put in, um, um, um, panels on their roof next door, and there was a complaint that, no, you cant add height on to your building because we have panels and youre going to block our sunlight. So what you were would you please clarify . I know what you just said, but i want you to clarify in a real life situation. So unless that person with the panels had a preexisting easement agreement that that that protected those panels, um, then they have their kind of out of luck. Yeah. If somebody next door wants to, wants to go up, is that correct . That is correct. Uh, commissioner, despite the fact that the california, uh, solar right act, um, implies that everybody should have the right to access, uh, uh, the sunlight for the sake of regenerating Renewable Energy. Thats solar energy. Um, it, um. It it it is of paramount importance that, uh, such easement, uh, i. E. Uh, the protection, uh, of the, uh, the right of the existing Solar Systems, uh, the right of access to the sunlight. Um such easement is not enforceable unless it is in writing, in clear and measurable terms and agreed by both parties, meaning the party owning the pv system and the Party Next Door or the adjacent party, uh, entertaining the idea of building a vertical condition that could potentially shake out the solar system, blocking their access to some sunlight. Thank you. And as i was listening to that very same testimony was going through my mind is why would anybody be, um , grant an easement, uh, to a to a next door neighbor . Um, if they had any intent ont of wanting to do, uh, maximize the potential of their building and, and what are the terms of a, uh, what are the terms of a negotiation to, to get an easement . Because if i own a, a building thats three stories tall, but im entitled to take that building to six stories. Um because of the zoning. Why would i . Well, what what what would what would what would motivate me as that person to grant an easement to the next door neighbor to protect a potential installation of a of a panel . Just to i mean, thats real life. What what what does that what does that negotiation sound like . That, that thats my presentation implies that there could be very costly, time consuming an. And effort consuming um but we all know that if you lets say sunset district for instance, where i, where, where i live, uh, even, even if my neighbor is proposed to, to, uh, to expand vertically with one with a single storey, which is, uh, unlike me, to have a very significant, uh, shading effect if i have a, a solar system existing on my rooftop. Um, that proposal still Planning Department still require them to, to send out notice to neighbors. If i remember correctly, within 100ft or even 300ft for notice that that is the time to raise the question. Hey if youre not talking about a single story vertical addition , um, as a plan checker, i have seen, um, uh, property having proposing not a single story, not three story. I can i have personally seen as many story as nine stories. Uh, just. For to bring more, uh, Housing Units into the housing market. Some of them affordable and we all know how important that is. Um, and if youre talking about that significant a, uh, a vertical condition, it will have a very similar effect to that 150ft trees. And tree. You can trim that. If its a building, theres no way to trim them. Right. So um, i guess the key takeaway is to, uh, engage in the negotiation process. I dont know that negotiation may be, um, i