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Board limits permit at 25 Seventeenth to ground‑floor structural work after neighbors’ objections
Summary
The San Francisco Board of Appeals partially granted an appeal of a DBI alteration permit for 25 Seventeenth Avenue on Oct. 18, 2017, approving only ground‑floor structural work and voluntary lateral strengthening while directing other disputed facade and deck work to a separate planning review. The vote was 4–0.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Oct. 18 limited a contested alteration permit for 25 Seventeenth Avenue so the owner may proceed only with specified ground‑floor structural work, after neighbors and the board raised concerns that other alterations had been handled piecemeal.
Appellant Jerry Drattler told the board he and 26 neighbors had developed a compromise “to approve the existing permit with the exception of the unpermitted alterations on the south wall and the ground floor and for these items to be rolled forward into a single permit, the remodel permit,” arguing that rolling the work together would allow the Planning Department to review the project as a whole.
The permit holder’s structural engineer, Rodrigo Santos, said the filing included work necessary to make the building safe and that the permit as revised matches site conditions. Zoning Administrator Scott Sanchez told the board staff had reviewed the subject permit and considered it “properly reviewed and approved to abate the violation on the property,” but cautioned that deferring scope could delay full compliance.
Inspector Joe Duffy (DBI) told the board staff had noticed plan discrepancies and that DBI sometimes assesses additional penalties when scope exceeds approved work; he said code allows multipliers on penalties and that higher assessments had been applied in other cases.
After questions about safety and the sequencing of permits, Vice President Frank Fung moved to grant the appeal in part and condition the permit so that only interior remodel at the ground floor, voluntary lateral strengthening and partial structural strengthening at the ground floor, and limited foundation work may proceed. The condition excludes the exterior bay and rear deck work cited in neighbors’ complaints.
The board voted 4–0 to approve that outcome. Commissioners stressed the final scope should be articulated in clear permit language so future plan submissions and inspections match the board’s intention.
The board’s action allows immediate safety work to move forward while preserving the Planning Department’s ability to review other alterations (including facade and deck work) in a future separate permit process.
