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Supervisor Ronan introduces legislation to tighten oversight after alleged building-permit abuses
Summary
Supervisor Ronan proposed an ordinance to expand rules and reporting for repeated building-permit violations, including a new compliance-control list and required reporting to the state licensing board, after hearings that documented alleged serial permit abuse.
Supervisor Matt Ronan introduced legislation on Jan. 5, 2021 aimed at curbing repeated and allegedly fraudulent abuse of San Francisco’s building-permit system, citing recent criminal and civil cases and neighbors’ complaints about unpermitted construction.
The proposal would create an expanded “compliance control list” identifying licensed professionals or parties tied to three or more serious violations within an 18-month period. Under the legislation, the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) would be required to post that list on its website, report listed professionals to the relevant state licensing board, impose expanded compliance measures on permit applications associated with listed parties, and provide regular reports to the Building Inspections Commission. The draft also includes internal standards for staff accountability, training and public reporting.
Why it matters: Supervisors framed the measure as an attempt to protect public safety, preserve building-code integrity and restore public trust after episodes of alleged forgery, unpermitted construction and other violations. Ronan cited multiple cases: an FBI arrest of a structural engineer on bank-fraud and amended civil complaints, a Portola project built at a larger scale than permitted that raised health and fire concerns, and a multi-property civil settlement of about $1.2 million for unpermitted work.
Discussion and direction: Ronan said the bill followed a November 2020 hearing he convened with colleagues and staff and credited input from DBI’s policy liaison and the city attorney’s office in shaping the draft. He said one goal is to reduce the market advantage expediters gain from exploiting opaque permitting practices.
What the ordinance would do (key points in the draft): - Define a threshold for the compliance-control list: parties or projects with three or more “serious violations” within 18 months. - Require DBI to publish the list and provide regular reports to the Building Inspections Commission. - Require DBI to report listed licensed professionals to state licensing boards and apply expanded compliance controls to any new permit application tied to listed parties. - Establish staff training, internal accountability standards and clearer public-facing guidance for smaller projects.
Next steps: Ronan asked colleagues for support; the item was introduced and sponsors listed. The transcript records no final vote on this ordinance on Jan. 5; the measure was introduced for future committee consideration and formal legislative processing.
Speakers quoted in this article were identified in the meeting transcript as Supervisor Ronan.
