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Board denies jurisdiction in dispute over French American School rooftop HVAC; neighbors urged noise review
Summary
The San Francisco Board of Appeals denied a late-jurisdiction request from a neighbor who said rooftop HVAC units at the French American School were installed without proper permits and cause noise impacts, while the school and city inspectors said work was covered by prior building and plumbing permits. The Board voted 3–2 to deny the jurisdiction request and directed possible noise follow-up through enforcement channels.
President Frank Fung and the Board of Appeals on Nov. 18 rejected a neighbor's request to reopen a plumbing-permit appeal tied to rooftop HVAC units at the French American School at 66 Page Street, saying the plumbing permit before the Board did not show a denial of due process.
The petitioning neighbor, Jacob Collins, represented by Kevin Grinkleste, told the Board the air handlers sit "less than 3 and a half feet from the windows of my tenants" and played a recording he said demonstrated ongoing noise problems. "These fumes and the noise go right into my tenants' living room and bedroom," Collins said.
School counsel Howard Slavitt told the Board the HVAC installation was addressed through the main building permit and related plumbing work was inspected and finaled. "The HVAC units were installed pursuant to the main building permit," Slavitt said, adding that a second plumbing permit was withdrawn after DBI staff confirmed the work was covered by the original permit. DBI plumbing chief Steve Penelli testified that inspections of condensate lines, gas connections and final plumbing were completed and that a separately obtained Allied Mechanical permit was withdrawn as redundant.
Commissioners debated whether the City's own internal permit guidance and the timing of notices meant the Board should take jurisdiction to "unravel" the permit history. Several commissioners expressed sympathy for Collins' frustration about notice and noise but also noted the Board had previously found adequate notice in an earlier appeal. Vice President Tanya Peterson said the noise-impact question might be better addressed by the Department of Public Health. Lawrence Kornfield of DBI and the health department's Richard Lee confirmed fixed-source noise complaints fall under the Department of Public Health (Article 29 of the Police Code), and that DPH could measure decibel levels and require mitigation if the units exceed legal limits.
President Fung moved to deny the late-jurisdiction request. The Board recorded a 3–2 vote to deny jurisdiction, leaving the plumbing permit as upheld for the purposes of this appeal. Commissioners who dissented said they would have favored a fuller review to resolve the notice and noise concerns. The Board did not adopt any formal remediation or abatement order during the hearing; health-department noise enforcement or a citizen complaint remain the available avenues for testing compliance and seeking mitigation.
