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Board denies rehearing in long-running 605 Kearney preservation dispute
Summary
The Board of Appeals denied a rehearing request from a Chinatown preservation advocate over 605 Kearney Street, concluding the applicant did not show new material that would alter the prior decision; Planning staff said the variance decision letter started the three-year entitlement clock.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals voted on Sept. 15 to deny a rehearing request concerning 605 Kearney Street, a contested Chinatown project that has drawn preservation concerns from neighborhood advocates.
Appellant Jason Bly told the board he had spent more than a decade advocating for preservation of the site and said he had new evidence showing the developer’s delay was the sponsor’s fault. He asked the board to grant rehearing to consider alleged errors and misrepresentations. Developer representatives and Planning Department staff disputed that new material would have changed the outcome: Scott Sanchez, the acting zoning administrator/Planning Department representative, told the board the variance decision letter issued on Feb. 12, 2007, started the three-year clock and argued the stop-work order released in June did not mean entitlements had expired.
Commissioners debated whether the entitlement clock began at variance issuance or later events; the majority concluded Bly had not proven manifest injustice or presented material new facts and denied rehearing by recorded vote (3-1). The board left open the role of Planning discretion to extend time under special conditions, but declined to remand the matter for a full rehearing.
The denial preserves the prior decision that allowed release of a stop-work order and the developer to resume work under the existing approvals; the appellant may pursue other administrative or legal remedies if available.
