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Board reduces two DBI penalties to the 2x minimum; minutes approved
Summary
The San Francisco Board of Appeals approved minutes and reduced investigation penalties to the 2x minimum in two appeals where new owners said unpermitted work predated their ownership; both penalties were reduced on the basis that the appellants did not own the property when the work was done.
At its Nov. 12 meeting the San Francisco Board of Appeals approved the minutes from Nov. 5 and acted on two penalty appeals tied to unpermitted work.
For an appeal involving 246 Tingley Street (Leticia Luna v. Department of Building Inspection), Commissioners noted the hearing had been held previously and that Commissioner Wilson had reviewed the record. Based on evidence that the appellant did not own the property at the time the work was done and that the code allows a reduction when work predates current ownership, the board voted 4–0 to reduce the penalty to the minimum 2 times the permit fee.
In a separate appeal involving a property on Second Street (appellants identified in the record as Frideman Thomas and co‑owner Lisa Cacavo), the appellants told the board they purchased the property in November 2011 and that the work that triggered the notice of violation predated their ownership. DBI Inspector Joseph Duffy reported that the notice of violation followed an anonymous complaint and that the building code permits reducing investigation fees to two times where substantiation is provided that the work occurred prior to current ownership. The board voted 4–0 to reduce that penalty to 2 times as well.
The board’s votes were 4–0 in both cases; the minutes of the Nov. 5 meeting were also adopted by unanimous roll call.
