February 18, 2010
PUBLIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING NOTES
Thursday, February 18, 2010
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
1660 Mission Street
Room 2001
1. Welcome and Introductions
Vivian Day welcomed attendees to the meeting and introductions were made.
Bill Mitchell spoke on AB-037 related to tenant improvements and office buildings. It was a big change when they went from one-half to one-third. It was thought by DBI and FIRE, that they might not need it any more. However, after looking at it, many stakeholders say they do need it. Staff worked it out and ran it through the Fire Marshall and Director Day.
FIRE used to allow exit through an adjacent tenant space. Now, the code explicitly states that this will not be allowed. What they have decided is that if the condition already exists, they will allow continuation of its use.
Director Day asked that any comments on the bulletin be submitted to her by March 1. This needs to go to the CAC and BIC, if there are any changes.
2. Discussion on Code Rewrite in 2007-2008
The building code will change in January 2011. They publish their official documents by the State of California on June 30. Then they have six months to integrate the State and local amendments. This is not a major code cycle change, with a few exceptions. The greatest exception is the International Residential Code being adopted by the State. Other changes include the California Green Building Code.
At the next meeting, staff will provide an update of the code cycle.
3. Discussion of Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) types of voluntary seismic retrofits
Laurence Kornfield reported on legislation that may affect the City. The first, proposed by Mayor Newsom, is the voluntary seismic retrofit incentives. Anyone who does a voluntary seismic upgrade will, with the approval from the Board of Supervisors, be able to get a reduction of fees. Also, one would not have to go back and meet prior building code requirements. This will be heard at the Land Use Committee on March 1. Once adopted, it will be integrated with the existing Administrative Bulletin.
Laurence Kornfield stated the Mayor is having the first meeting of his mandatory soft story working group/task force that is going to propose a mandatory measure to require all certain types of buildings: 5 or more units, 3 or more stories, soft story wood framed buildings, to be mandatorily retrofitted with a yet to be determined amount of time. FEMA is also working with the CAPSS group on developing standards. Mr. Kornfield hopes to have a report by May-June with the results.
Director Day spoke on the Certified Access Specialist Program for the State of California. Every local jurisdiction has to have an inspector or building personnel department person that is certified in looking at both California accessibility and Federal guidelines. The effective date of the State Law is July 1. Inspectors from the Mayor’s Office on Disability are obtaining CASP certifications. There was to be a presentation at today’s meeting; however, it will be placed on the March agenda.
4. Discussion on issues around duplication – DBI revamping processes
This is still part of the BPR and revolves around the duplication of processes in inspection and plan check. The Department will be having meetings with other agencies to revisit. Staff will be working on this within the next couple months.
It was again reported that IPR staff are still signing in the Redevelopment agency’s area on the permit application, and they leave the Housing area blank. Director Day asked Laurence Kornfield to speak to his staff on this item.
There was a question about a possible change in the way microfilm prints are going to be authorized. Director Day stated that DBI is currently developing forms. She hopes to have them ready by March 15. It will require authorization from the owner and architect/engineer of record, per State law, to obtain copies. Director Day stated the information is still viewable, but cannot be copied without authorization. It was suggested that a bulletin be issued to further explain the process.
5. Site Permit vs. Full Permit
Director Day stated that what is currently happening is site permits, by not getting issued, people are coming in with addendum #1 and taking the site permit and addendum #1 up to the fifth floor and getting it processed over-the-counter. This has circumvented the whole process. The Department has now automated the system, so that this no longer occurs.
6. Roundtable Discussion
Director Day stated she will be notifying members of the PAC on impact fee deferral, which was shot down by the Planning Department. The affordable housing impact fee portion was approved. This is the reverse of what the Mayor’s Office thought would happen.
There was an inquiry on the special inspection bulletin. Laurence Kornfield commented that the major revision to the special inspection program was approved by the PAC. It was distributed to staff, and there were some concerns about its implementation. Currently, staff is continuing its in-house review, and it is not ready for issuance.
There was a comment on how well the fifth floor operation was going.
There was an inquiry about the possibility of inspectors coming back to DBI. Director Day stated that DBI had 11 positions approved for limited duration for the Transbay/PUC buildings, the Exploratorium for the Port, and Treasure Island. These requisitions still need to go through the Controller’s Office, Mayor’s Budget Office, and DHR. Director Day reported there is a 5241 – Plan Check Engineer position coming back on limited duration. Laurence Kornfield will be working with the position to see where it goes. Pamela Levin clarified that limited duration positions work for three years or the life of a project. After three years, justification needs to be provided to change the position to permanent. Director Day stated that Pamela Levin is now the Deputy Director of Administrative Services for DBI.
Director Day stated that Q-matic is soon to come. They are in the process for online and IVR inspection scheduling. It will be in three languages: English, Cantonese, and Spanish. DBI hopes to have these in place by May 1. Q-matic should come online sooner than May 1. Staff is working on final seating arrangements for the fifth floor.
Director Day reported that DBI will be re-bidding the Permit Tracking System. They expect the bid to go out in less than a month. The Department hopes to have a vendor in three months.
Director Day commented that the Department is trying to get away from written, general receipts. They are working with MIS to be able to generate a printed receipt for transactions. DBI is looking at replacing the cash register system.
Staff is working on revamping the codes, administrative bulletins, and internal operation procedures by July 1.
There was a suggestion to have a system to notify complainants of inspector actions on their complaints.
7. Future Agenda Items
Review of BPR flow charts
Certified Accessibility Specialist Program
Review of DBI Organizational Charts
8. Adjournment
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.
