Board of Appeals denies rehearing request on 330 Presidio ADU permits

The San Francisco Board of Appeals denied a rehearing request from John Paxton concerning two accessory dwelling unit permits for 330 Presidio Avenue, concluding the board had no new evidence that would change its April decision.

Paxton told the board he obtained a Rent Board memo after the hearings that acknowledged his complaint about alleged wrongful severance and said he was deprived of an opportunity to rebut testimony he called inaccurate. "These statements are false," Paxton said of the applicant's testimony, and he asked the board to grant a rehearing to avoid a "manifest injustice."

Stephen Bettle, attorney for the permit holder, responded that the Rent Board memo was an acknowledgment of a filing and "doesn't validate the allegations made in the report." Bettle told the board that Paxton had raised the severance issue at prior hearings and that Paxton has an available remedy at the Rent Board.

Corey Teague of the planning department advised the board that the issues Paxton raised largely fall under the Rent Ordinance and Rent Board jurisdiction and that the Rent Board notice appeared to be a filing acknowledgment rather than an adjudication. After discussion about the rehearing standard—whether new evidence or a manifest injustice existed—Commissioner Honda moved to deny the rehearing. The motion carried with recorded 'Aye' votes and the rehearing request was denied.

The board recorded that the earlier permit decision remains in effect; no new direction to staff or further action on the 330 Presidio permit was ordered at the meeting.