Board denies jurisdiction request from Mission Fuel and Food over DPH tobacco permit denial

The San Francisco Board of Appeals denied a jurisdiction request from Gulfco Enterprises (doing business as Mission Fuel and Food) seeking review of a Department of Public Health denial of a retail tobacco sales permit for 4298 Mission Street.

Attorney Mark Loper, representing applicant Mohammed Ahmadi, asked the board to grant jurisdiction after the client missed the 15-day appeal deadline by four days, saying the applicant had been ill with multiple sclerosis when he received the denial notice and that the denial email did not clearly state appeal rights. "Someone who is ill should not be faulted for failing to immediately review the attachment to discover an appeal opportunity," Loper said.

DPH Principal Environmental Health Inspector Jennifer Kalliewert told the board the department received the application, issued the denial on March 18 and confirmed the email and attachments were sent in the usual form. She said the health code exception for tobacco permits applies to retail grocery/market uses and that the Mission Fuel location, zoned as a gas station with an accessory food mart use, does not meet that exception. "We feel that the notice for the denial was given...directly to the appellant in the normal form that we do," Kalliewert said.

After questioning from commissioners about prior communications, notice during the shelter-in-place transition and how appeals were accepted, Commissioner Tanner moved to deny the jurisdiction request on the basis that the city did not intentionally or inadvertently cause the requester to be late in filing their appeal. The motion passed 5-0.

The denial leaves the DPH decision in place; the board limited its review to whether city actions caused the delay and did not address the underlying merits of the tobacco-permit denial.