Supervisor Jake McGoldrick has introduced legislation aimed at curbing one of the most disturbing practices in the San Francisco building community – illegal demolition of houses, particularly older homes of architectural or historic merit, or both.

PHRA supports the measure as a first step, recognizing that it is not a cure-all.

It would among other things, inhibit such acts as occurred at 2838 Sacramento Street where a building was all but demolished – only the front wall remained – under a simple remodeling permit.

Removal of 75% or more of the exterior walls of a building or 50% or more of the façade facing the street falls into a new category: "major exterior alteration."

To do a "major exterior alteration," contractors are faced with an expanded list of requirements, including:

Permit renewal or extension is limited to three years.

There are substantial penalties for violation of the requirements.

Once a permit has been issued and construction has begun, no over-the-counter permits will be issued for the building until the project has been completed. All permits for the building are to be routed to the Planning Department for review.

That provision addresses two problems of the past. The first is what has been called serial permitting. That’s when builders go back to the building department time after time for seeming small additions to the original plan with the cumulative effect far greater than that originally presented to the city or the neighbors. In some instances the result has been total replacement of a building, bit by bit. The second problem is that sometimes the left hand hasn’t known what the right hand is doing; for example, without the cross check the Building Department could issue a permit for alteration of a building without discovering that it was in a historic district and subject to certain limitations.

Under the proposed ordinance, work without a permit or beyond the scope of a permit is subject to a $5,000 fine. If the building is historic, removal or alteration without a permit or beyond the scope of the permit is subject to a $15,000 fine.

Under the old ordinance, some of the penalties were so draconian that they were never imposed. One of the provisions – no building at all would be permitted on a site for five years after an illegal demolition had been discovered – was often opposed by neighbors who didn’t want to live next to a dusty, trash-collecting vacant lot for that period.