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Building Inspection Commission

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BUILDING INSPECTION COMMISSION (BIC)
Department of Building Inspection (DBI)

REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 416
Aired Live on SFGTV Channel 78
ADOPTED October 15, 2008

MINUTES

The regular meeting of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 9:10 a.m. by President Lee.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

Frank Lee, President                                          Mel Murphy, Vice-President, excused
Reuben Hechanova, Commissioner                     Robin Levitt, Commissioner
Criss Romero, Commissioner                             Vahid Sattary, Commissioner
Debra Walker, Commissioner, excused
Ann Aherne, Commission Secretary

D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:
Isam Hasenin, Director
Neal Taniguchi, Support Services Manager
William Strawn, Communications Manager
Rosemary Bosque, Chief Housing Inspector

Sonya Harris, Secretary

2. President’s Announcement.

President Lee welcomed Commissioner Levitt to the Building Inspection Commission, and stated that Commissioner Levitt was sworn in by Supervisor Peskin to the Landlord Seat replacing Commissioner Mandelman who was recently appointed to the Board of Permit Appeals.

Commissioner Levitt said that he was honored to be on the Commission and serve with the distinguished members. Commissioner Levitt stated that he was an architect experienced with the Building Code.

There was no public comment on this item.

3. Director’s Report.

a. Status of MIS.

Director Hasenin said that he continues to work with City departments to make the enhancements that DBI is working on. Director Hasenin stated that as a point of information, there was a request by the Board of Supervisors that the Department holds some money in reserve that relates to MIS costs until the issues with the Planning Department are resolved and there is an agreement on a future, fully integrated system that can be linked together between the Planning and Building Departments.

b. Financial Report.

Director Hasenin stated that the financial report for June basically continues along the same lines as the past month. Director Hasenin said the Department is monitoring expenditures and revenues according to the conservative estimates in the budget. Director Hasenin said that overall activity has declined so the Department will continue to closely watch finances.

c. Update on the overall plan for the reconfiguration of DBI.

Director Hasenin said that the Department is making minor alterations, but is holding off making any major changes or undertaking major remodels until staff determines whether or not DBI will be moving. Director Hasenin said that the Department will continue to work with the City’s Real Estate Department to look at all options.

d. Update on fee study.

Director Hasenin stated that the fee study was approved and is now in front of the Board of Supervisors awaiting its second reading. Director Hasenin stated that once this was done DBI is expecting to move it to the Mayor’s Office and 60 days later the new fees will be effective; probably some time in September. Director Hasenin said that the training and other information about the fees was going to be ongoing and that the Department would be doing outreach. Director Hasenin stated that DBI would be giving out fliers to ensure that the Department reaches a large segment of all customers and citizens.

e. Update on the earthquake relief effort for China.

Director Hasenin said that DBI has formed a partnership between public and private organizations, along with individuals and has sent a letter to the Chinese government stating that the Department is available and will volunteer time and effort to help in any way. Director Hasenin stated that DBI was awaiting a response to see if there was a need for that, and staff was planning a follow up meeting with those involved at City Hall.

f. CAPSS Update and Department’s Response to the recent San Francisco Chronicle articles regarding seismic issues.

Director Hasenin stated that he was going to allow the Executive Director of ATC to give an update on the CAPSS program. Director Hasenin said that at the direction of the Mayor, DBI accelerated the soft story component of CAPSS and has a target date at the end of January to have a report and final recommendations by ATC to DBI that will basically give the Department the background and resources that are needed to give the City, the Mayor, and the Board of Supervisors options on what direction to move in, in terms of seismic retrofit for soft story buildings. Director Hasenin stated that in addition to that, the Commissioners were given a packet of articles or letters that were published in the newspaper and DBI’s response to those articles as well as the San Francisco Chronicle’s response, and so on. Director Hasenin said that the record speaks for itself as to what DBI has been doing as well as the City of San Francisco. Director Hasenin stated that the Department has had meetings with the San Francisco Chronicle staff and said that he felt comfortable with where the Department is and looks forward to a good cooperative relationship with the Chronicle. Director Hasenin said that the Department wants to use the media as part of the effort to reach citizens and owners and to tell the public about potential hazards and how to mitigate those hazards.

President Lee said that the Commissioners would be discussing seismic safety on agenda #7 which deals with an update on the CAPSS program. The Commissioners noted that newspaper articles about seismic safety could be helpful to the Department in terms of outreach for public awareness and public knowledge.

Commissioner Hechanova said that DBI is undertaking and spearheading responsible action regarding seismic safety and said that there were many inaccuracies in the newspaper articles.

Commissioner Sattary asked how much delay it would cause for other types of buildings, such as non-ductile concrete buildings, to be addressed by CAPSS by emphasizing soft-story buildings. Director Hasenin said that he thought that it would only delay things for a couple of months and said that he expected the entire program to be done in two years. Director Hasenin stated that the soft story buildings have become an issue because of their numbers. Director Hasenin said that according to the Code in San Francisco when there is a building alteration over 33% the Code requires seismic upgrading so many buildings have already been upgraded. Director Sattary said that when buildings are sold many times the lender will require seismic upgrading as well.

Mr. Paxton introduced himself as the Vice-Chair of the CAPSS Citizens Advisory Committee and said that he was scared to death regarding the condition of buildings in San Francisco. Mr. Paxton stated that DBI and the former Commission was at fault for what happened previously when the CAPSS program was stopped by submitting to some inappropriate pressure and the citizens of San Francisco suffered. Mr. Paxton said that he was now happy to say that the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, the Commission, the Department and the Director are 100% behind CAPSS and are participating in the process. Mr. Paxton stated that the Chronicle was doing its job by following up on seismic safety issues. Mr. Paxton said that out in the wings CAPSS is getting some public policy direction from SPUR. Mr. Paxton thanked everyone for their support.

Ms. Noreen Burns said that she was present on behalf of Sean Keighran, President of the Residential Builders. Ms. Burns read a letter from Mr. Keighran written to the Chronicle in response to an article dated July 8, 2008. Mr. Keighran cited the reason the RBA agreed with the temporary suspension of spending for CAPSS in 2003. The letter stated that the records of the BIC March 19, 2003 minutes reflect that DBI was in a budget crisis and were considering staff layoffs; the DBI surplus had decreased from $11M down to $3M and there was poor oversight over the $634,000 that CAPSS had already spent. The letter stated that the RBA has always advocated safety and stated that no data was lost by suspending this contract.

Mr. John Keogan of the San Francisco Coalition for Responsible Growth (SFCRG) said that there are many aspects to this problem, both technical and non-technical. Mr. Keogan urged the Commission to make this program voluntary and to reach out to teach homeowners the importance for understanding the need for seismic strengthening. Mr. Keogan said that he noted that permit fees will be waived, but said that many more incentives are needed to have everyone buy into the repairs needed.

Mr. Simon Kwan, a member of SFCRG said that he was in support of the CAPSS program, but asked that the Committee consider hardship status for many of the old buildings that have a second means of egress (stairs) with a set back.

Mr. Sean Pritchard of the San Francisco Apartment Association said that he supported the Director’s efforts and said that he had some concerns about displacing low income tenants because of repairs to soft story buildings. Mr. Pritchard said that that there are many unwarranted units in the City and said that from the apartment owner’s perspective it is very costly to temporarily evict tenants.

Mr. Henry Karnilowicz, a member of the SFCRG, said that he was concerned about the extent of repair that will have to be done to the soft story buildings. Mr. Karnilowicz suggested deferred taxing as an incentive. Mr. Karnilowicz stated that he was concerned about ADA requirements and said that many small stores would not be able to open again if there were strict adherence to the ADA requirements in repairs made for soft story concerns.

There was no further public comment.

4. Public Comment: The BIC will take public comment on matters within the Commission’s jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.

Mr. Henry Karnilowicz said that he was happy to receive a phone call from Corey, Canapary & Galanis Research, the firm that is doing a survey regarding service at DBI. Mr. Karnilowicz stated that he hoped the Department would share the results of the customer survey with the Commission and the public.

A Chinese speaking gentleman from the public spoke before the Commission with Inspector Danny Mak of the DBI Housing Division acting as a translator. The gentleman was given six minutes for public comment, three for his comments and three for the interpretation.

Mr. Mak said that this gentleman lived at 373 Broadway Street. Mr. Mak gave the following translation. The gentleman filed a complaint in April 2007 about an air conditioner that was installed on the building where he resides. The air conditioner was supposed to be installed on top of the roof, but is installed on a light well. DBI met with the complainant and the contractor and the case was then turned over to Larry at Code Enforcement. The gentleman was asking that Director Hasenin use his authority to make the contractor move it back to the roof top because of noise. President Lee asked if Director Hasenin could look into this situation and get back to the Commission.

Director Hasenin said that the Department had been dealing with this issue for a few months and had been working with this gentleman, but said that where the air conditioner is placed, meets the Code. Director Hasenin stated that he had talked with the owner of the buildings and had them contact the Rent Board and there wasn’t anything to do. Director Hasenin said that there was an acoustical study done and there was a limitation set on the owner of the building not to run the air conditioner after 10 p.m. Director Hasenin stated that the Department had exhausted all remedies for the complainant and had spent over one-hundred hours in trying to address his issues.

There was no further public comment.

President Lee asked if it would be acceptable to move to Item #7. The Commissioners agreed.

5. Presentation of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DBI and the San Francisco Housing Authority. – continued

6. Discussion and possible action regarding an Ordinance amending the 2007 San Francisco Building Code by adding a new Chapter 13D to require commercial buildings to install more efficient fluorescent lighting or other lighting efficiency measures by 2011, to make findings in accordance with California Health and Safety Code Section 17958.7 as to the local climatic, topological and geological reasons for amending the State Building Code; amending Section 705 of the Environment Code to require City-owned facilities to install more efficient fluorescent lighting; and to make environmental findings.

The Commission continued Item #6 until Item #7 was heard.

7. Update on the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS).

Mr. Tom Tobin, Manager of the Applied Technology Council for the CAPSS program said that his presentation would be brief and said that ATC would be amending its priorities in order to respond to the Mayor’s Executive Order regarding soft story building concerns. Mr. Tobin stated that this changing of priorities would cause delays because it would cause some of the scheduled work to be done twice. Mr. Tobin said that ATC would be working with the data base that DBI developed and would then categorize referenced buildings and do an analysis of vulnerability. Mr. Tobin said that there would be retrofits of designs along with an analysis of construction costs and the extent of improvements. Mr. Tobin stated that one of the key issues would be what performance standards San Francisco wants of its housing stock in a significant earthquake.

Director Hasenin said that DBI appreciates ATC’s willingness to undertake and accelerate the soft story program and said that DBI is committed to provide whatever support ATC will require. Director Hasenin reported that technical staff at DBI is in place to help ATC achieve the due date set for January. Director Hasenin said that the Mayor has two action items, one being the acceleration of the soft story program and the other being legislation to allow for a waiver of fees for voluntary seismic upgrades in soft story buildings. Director Hasenin stated that DBI is meeting with Planning to achieve minimum Planning impact with no public hearings to be held in this process and to come up with “cookbook” methods for these seismic upgrade projects so that the City could provide detailed standard drawings to the customer. Director Hasenin said that this would provide cost savings to the customer volunteering to retrofit and could be done in an expeditious manner.

President Lee asked about the Public Advisory Committee, its makeup, purpose and rules. Mr. Tobin said that ATC acts as an advisory to the Director, but the Public Advisory Committee is made up of stakeholders, such as owners, renters or just people who are concerned about the makeup of the City. Mr. Tobin stated that the Public Advisory Committee is a window into the community and is a unique feature of this program. Mr. Tobin said that members of the Advisory group are appointed by the Director, but the meetings are advertised and there is very much an open door policy for anyone interested.

President Lee asked if there were any plans for outreach to the public. Mr. Tobin said that outreach is really in the hands of DBI, but said that ATC Management would be willing to participate in any outreach programs along with DBI. Mr. Tobin stated that ATC is not doing any mailing to the public, but would be willing to meet with leaders and representatives of organizations. Mr. Tobin said that ATC does have a public relations firm in its proposal and do reach out to them for advice on how to make determinations more understandable to the general public. Director Hasenin said that DBI was very committed to take an active role in the outreach program and would be having numerous meetings throughout the City to communicate the Department’s message to the public.

Commissioner Sattary said that he wanted to ask the Director to continue to meet with the engineering community along with ATC. Commissioner Sattary asked that a study be done to set minimum standards for this type of retrofit on soft story buildings.

Mr. Tobin spoke about other cities that have adopted seismic retrofit policies in particular the City of Berkeley and said that it is very difficult to determine a minimum standard for retrofitting. Director Hasenin said that it is very difficult to determine a standard because the retrofitting should have high enough standards to promote safety, but should no be too high that it becomes onerous or too costly. President Lee said that it will be very difficult to explain this to the public to get everyone working together.

Mr. Rodrigo Santos introduced himself as a structural engineer and President of the San Francisco Coalition for Responsible Growth (SFCRG). Mr. Santos said that in principle he supports every effort by the City to encourage property owners to seismically upgrade their property; however, these plans need to be complimented by tangible financial incentives. Mr. Santos stated that he had several ideas; one of them being to bypass Planning, as Planning is a black hole. Mr. Santos said that there is no such thing as a permit that is based on the structural merits only. Mr. Santos said that many of the soft story buildings have commercial space and getting a permit for upgrading those properties will trigger ADA laws which is federal and said that he would suggest granting an automatic hardship for the implementation of the seismic work. Mr. Santos stated that this is a very complicated process and said that there was a moratorium on garages at the present time because of historical aspects and said that he would suggest that garages be allowed as long as the job is in compliance with the seismic requirements. Mr. Santos asked for an additional minute to explain his further suggestions, but the Commission did not allow it.

Ms. Kelton Finney of the SFCRG and said that she agreed with Mr. Santos’ comments and said that the Commission should look at whether or not the soft story upgrades should be purely voluntary. Ms. Finney stated that it makes sense to mandate an upgrade on many of these buildings. Ms. Finney said that the costs mentioned in a local paper were ridiculous and said that someone could not even buy the hardware for the upgrade for $5,000. Ms. Finney stated that other incentives besides the waiver of permit fees would have to be considered, such as property tax write offs to encourage people to upgrade. Ms. Finney urged the Commission to consider this item carefully before moving forward.

President Lee said that the Commission wants to encourage people to retrofit on a voluntary basis before it becomes mandatory.

Director Hasenin said that he and the Department are committed to addressing the public’s concerns and said that there will be written policies and a friendly, receptive staff at DBI.

Commissioner Sattary expressed his concerns about permitting issues that would be impacted by this type of retrofit and special considerations being allowed for corner buildings that are a zero lot line type of construction. Commissioner Levitt said that as an Architect he would be concerned about architectural and historical integrity of the City. Commissioner Hechanova stated that the Commission and the Department would have to err on the side of public safety because public safety is at risk.

President Lee said that the Commission would now return to Item #6

Mr. Mark Westlund and Mr. Seth Epstein of the Department of the Environment appeared before the Commission to speak on this ordinance. Mr. Westlund stated that the Mayor was in support of this ordinance. Mr. Westlund reported that both the Code Advisory Committee and the Small Business Commission had approved this ordinance with some very minor amendments. Mr. Westlund explained that this ordinance would allow for old fluorescent tubes to be phased out in order to increase energy efficiency and lower green house gases in commercial buildings Mr. Westlund explained that a rebate of $22 was available with the average cost being $26 for the retrofit.

Commissioner Levitt asked what would happen to the recycled fluorescent tubes. Mr. Westlund stated that there is a facility in Hayward that separates the mercury and glass that is then collected and used for new fluorescent fixtures.

There was no public comment on this item.

Commissioner Sattary made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Sattary, to approve the ordinance as recommended by the Code Advisory Committee. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 034-08

8. Discussion and possible action regarding DBI’s 2008 Cost Schedule of Building Valuation Data.

Chief Building Inspector Laurence Kornfield reported that this is an item that comes before the BIC every year to update the Department’s cost schedule that is used for the determination of fees. Director Hasenin stated that the increase would be about 5% and said that DBI’s fees are based on a percentage of the valuation of a job; reports are updated by Marshall and Swift on categories of work.

Commissioner Levitt asked if he could be abstain for voting on this item as he was not familiar with the process. Deputy City Attorney Malamut advised that the Commissioner would have to vote.

There was no public comment on this item.

Commissioner Hechanova made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Romero, to adopt the Cost Schedule. The motion carried on a vote of 4 to 1 with Commissioner Levitt voting no.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 035-08

9. Review and approval of the minutes of the April 16, 2008 meeting.

Commissioner Levitt was not at the meeting on April 16, 2008 and was excused from voting.

Commissioner Sattary made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Romero that the minutes be approved. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 036-08

10. Review and approval of the minutes of the April 28, 2008 special meeting.

Commissioner Hechanova made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Sattary, that the minutes be approved. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 037-08

11. Review and approval of the minutes of the May 21, 2008 meeting. – continued.

These minutes were continued as Commissioner Romero and Commissioner Levitt were not present and there would not be a quorum to approve.

12. Commissioner’s Questions and Matters.

a. Inquiries to Staff. At this time, Commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies, practices, and procedures, which are of interest to the Commission.

Commissioner Romero asked when the new fees would be implemented. Director Hasenin stated that the fees would be implemented on September 15, 2008.

Commissioner Hechanova asked about an item discussed at a previous meeting; a Potrero district condo where the project sponsor had exceeded the scope of the permit. Director Hasenin reported that a Notice of Violation had been issued and that the applicant was modifying the plan to meet the Code.

Commissioner Hechanova asked about a Sea Cliff project that had been discussed earlier. Director Hasenin stated that a top Work order had been issued until an easement issue has been resolved with Public Works.

b. Future Meetings/Agendas. At this time, the Commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a Special Meeting and/or determine those items that could be placed on the agenda of the next meeting and other future meetings of the Building Inspection Commission.

The next BIC meeting is scheduled for August 20, 2008.

There was no comment.

13. Public Comment: The BIC will take public comment on matters within the Commission’s jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.

There was no pubic comment.

14. Adjournment.

Commissioner Sattary made a motion, seconded by President Lee, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 038-08

The meeting was adjourned. At 10:55 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________

Ann Aherne
Secretary

SUMMARY OF REQUESTS BY COMMISSIONERS OR FOLLOW UP ITEMS
Update on follow up meeting regarding earthquake relief for China. – Director Hasenin	Page 2