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Board pauses appeal of 150 Rice Street permit to allow cancellation after routing error
Summary
A tenant appealed a DBI-issued permit to remove a downstairs kitchen at 150 Rice St; the board continued the appeal to allow the permit holder time to cancel the permit after staff acknowledged the permit was not routed to Planning.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Aug. 12 continued an appeal of a Department of Building Inspection permit for 150 Rice Street to allow the permit holder time to cancel the permit after a routing error.
Tenant Sarah Pasalacqua (spoke as Sarah Pasalakwa/Pasalacqua in the record) told the board the downstairs room at 150 Rice St had been used as an in‑law unit for decades and that the landlord’s permit to remove the kitchen and stove would convert the two‑unit building to single‑family status, potentially terminating rent‑control protections she said she relied on. "When the unit downstairs disappears from my building, it’ll go from a 2 unit building to a single family home, and I will no longer have protection," she said during her remarks.
Property owner John Navarro said he filed the permit in response to DBI inspections and directives to correct code violations, including installation of CO alarms and removal of exposed wiring; he said the permit was intended to bring the house into compliance, not to evict the tenant.
Joe Duffy of the Department of Building Inspection confirmed the permit had been approved but noted DBI staff routed the permit incorrectly and did not send it to the Planning Department for review. Planning’s Scott Sanchez said the site lies in an RH‑1 district that generally allows only single‑family dwellings and that, had the permit been routed to Planning, Planning staff would have approved it; he also explained that removing the unit could make the property ineligible for future legalization and could remove rent‑control coverage depending on certification/occupancy dates.
Because of the routing error, the board voted to continue the appeal to the call of the chair to allow time for the permit holder to cancel the permit rather than penalize him for a staff error; the motion carried 5 to 0. The continuation gives the permit holder the option to withdraw or reapply through the correct routing process.
