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Board of Appeals continues jurisdiction request over 665 San Jose Ave to Oct. 14 as departments investigate
Summary
The Board of Appeals voted unanimously to continue a jurisdiction request about a May 22 permit for 665 San Jose Ave to Oct. 14, directing Planning and the Department of Building Inspection to investigate whether the permit should be canceled or suspended after neighbors raised notice and code-compliance concerns.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Aug. 28 moved to continue a jurisdiction request concerning a permit issued May 22, 2015 for 665 San Jose Avenue, allowing city planning and building officials time to investigate whether the permit was properly issued.
Tyrone Whitehorn, the jurisdiction requester, told the board he learned of the permit only in mid-June and said the building is rent-controlled and would be illegally altered if the first-floor unit were converted to a storefront without proper notice to occupants. "If my landlord obtains this permit to force me to move out of my apartment, this would be an illegal move," Whitehorn said.
Scott Sanchez, the City Zoning Administrator representing the Planning Department, said the property sits in an RH-2 district and cautioned that restoring a commercial use at a residential-registered building could require conditional-use authorization if a prior commercial use was abandoned for more than three years. Joe Duffy of the Department of Building Inspection told the board DBI had issued the permit but showed no inspection history and that the permit holder could cancel the permit or DBI could suspend it pending corrective action.
Board members said they were concerned about both whether statutory notice requirements under the city—s Section 3.11 process were followed and whether the permit itself contained a fatal flaw. Commissioner Frank Fung moved to continue the jurisdiction request to Oct. 14 to allow DBI and Planning to investigate and to ask the permit holder to provide more information. The motion carried unanimously with Commissioner Rick Swigg absent.
The matter will return in October so staff can report on whether the permit should be canceled, suspended, or otherwise corrected.
Details: The permit at issue was identified by staff as building permit no. 1705216937, issued May 22, 2015; the jurisdiction request was filed with the Board office on Aug. 10, 2015. The board instructed staff to notify the requester and the permit holder of next steps.
Next steps: The board set the matter for hearing on Oct. 14, 2015 to allow Planning and DBI to complete their review.
