Board continues complex permit-recommencement dispute, directs DBI to produce permit timeline

The Board of Appeals on Jan. 14 continued two appeals challenging Department of Building Inspection recommencement permits tied to a multi-permit HOA rehabilitation project. The board found the record unclear about which prior permits had expired, whether recommencement or extension was appropriate, and whether DBI had completed a promised structural review.

Appellant Sunya Sastry and her structural engineer, Detlev Doering, told the board they had identified structural deficiencies and dry rot that made the existing permit set nonconforming to site conditions and urged the board to suspend or revoke the newly issued recommencement permits pending DBI’s full structural review. The permit holder, represented by owner representative Kathleen Gavorz and permit applicant Steven Wong, said they had followed DBI inspectors’ instructions to file recommencement permits and that multiple DBI plan checkers and inspectors had reviewed and approved the work to date.

DBI staff (Joe Ospital) explained the legal distinction between an extension and a recommencement and noted that recommencement permits were in fact issued; but he acknowledged internal coordination problems within DBI and incomplete communications in the record. Given the factual confusion, the board instructed DBI to prepare a single factual chart listing the two recommencement permits, their referenced mother permits, application and issuance dates, expiration dates, and any suspension/tolling periods. The board continued the matter to Feb. 11, 2026 to allow DBI and parties to reconcile the documentary record.