Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Permit Revocation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board revokes alteration permit for 2425 Folsom after tenants and appellant raise housing‑use concerns
Summary
The Board of Appeals voted 3-0 to revoke an alteration permit for 2425 Folsom, finding the permit’s scope-of-work description unclear. Appellants argued the permit would remove a kitchen and could convert a habitable rental unit out of housing use; the permit holder said the owner sought to bring the space up to code.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on March 25 revoked an alteration permit for 2425 Folsom Street by a 3-0 vote after appellants said the permit would remove a kitchen and effectively remove an existing rental unit from housing use.
Appellant counsel Courtney Brown and Raquel Fox told the board that the permit as written would demolish the kitchen, convert it to laundry, and thereby make the unit illegal under the San Francisco housing code requirement that a legal habitable unit have a kitchen. "This permit as it presently exists would result in the removal of that unit from housing use," Courtney Brown said. Appellants also described tenant-interference allegations and said no DBI notice of violation is on record for the unit.
Permit-holder counsel Sharnay Tang said the owner, Annie Fung, applied proactively to determine whether the unit could be brought up to code and denied an intent to evict tenants. "Miss Fung vehemently denies all of the allegations that she ever tried to verbally increase the rent," Tang told the board. Planning staff and DBI inspector Joe Duffy said their records show no open enforcement case and no formal notice of violation for the property; DBI testified it had not received a survey and would not undertake property-entry enforcement absent a complaint or court order.
After rebuttals and discussion, Commissioner Frank Fung moved to revoke the permit on the basis that the scope-of-work description was unclear and inaccurate; President Anne Lazarus and Vice President Daryl Honda joined him. The motion passed 3-0 and the board revoked the permit, noting the board’s vacancy and applicable voting thresholds.
