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Board upholds stop‑work order tied to inaccurate site plan at 770 Eighteenth Avenue
Summary
The Board of Appeals upheld a zoning administrator’s stop‑work order after finding errors in a building-site plan that affected rear‑yard calculations; the board found correction (stop work) appropriate and left broader permit questions to a Planning Commission discretionary review.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals denied an appeal of a zoning administrator’s stop‑work request for work at 770 Eighteenth Avenue, finding that an inaccurate site plan and survey had caused a rear‑yard nonconformity and that the zoning administrator properly sought corrective action rather than revoking an entire permit.
Scott Sanchez (Planning) said the site plan initially submitted misrepresented the depth of an adjacent building and therefore the rear‑yard measurement used for the permit process was incorrect. The zoning administrator requested a stop‑work order to require correction of the error; the matter of any broader permit validity was left to the Planning Commission’s discretionary review scheduled the following day.
Appellants urged that Planning Code §176 requires permits issued in nonconformance to be null and void. Owner counsel argued the permit holder reasonably relied on a certified survey and had invested the costs of construction; they said a complete revocation would be disproportionate and that discrete correction was the appropriate remedy. The board upheld the stop‑work order and directed the parties to pursue the pending discretionary review before the Planning Commission.
