Board dismisses jurisdictional appeal, reschedules hearings and adopts minutes in routine session

The board handled several procedural matters in a largely unanimous set of votes: it dismissed an appeal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, rescheduled calendar items, adopted amended minutes and continued two appeals so departments could perform follow-up work.

John Kwong of the Department of Public Works told the board the department had made an administrative error in directing an appellant to this board rather than to the Board of Supervisors and said he would correct the error and notify the appellant. "I made an administrative error when the department denied this minor encroachment permit," Kwong said; the board then moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and voted 5-0 to dismiss.

Earlier the board took a procedural vote to reschedule items 7a and 7b (appeals concerning 207 Marietta) to Nov. 5 because parties were negotiating revised plans; that motion passed with the commissioners present. The board also adopted amended minutes of the Oct. 15 meeting, which include a line noting the hire of a new executive director, Cynthia Goldstein.

Separately, the board continued two contested appeals to Nov. 12: the 1666 Greenwich rooftop-deck appeal to allow DBI and Planning to measure the structure and the 1515 In S Avenue appeal (Saavedra v. DBI) to allow the permit holder time to seek a plumbing permit addressing drainage concerns raised by the neighboring homeowner. In the Saavedra matter, a family member of the appellant described extensive concrete paving on the neighboring lot and said runoff had no proper drainage; DBI staff said area drains and plumbing permits are required when more than 200 square feet are paved and offered to coordinate with the permit holder to resolve the NOV.

All procedural motions described above were approved unanimously where recorded.