The Beach Motel at 4201-4211 Judah Street will stay as a tourist motel after winning before the Board of Appeals rehearing on August 22, 2012
update. September 6, 2012, new article goes inter greater detail with an interview and also characterized Randy Shaw and THC as bullies
Randy Shaw and Tenderloin Housing Clinic lost this case after decades of litigation but this latest win for the Beach isn't being posted on Beyondchron. The last time Randy Shaw wrote about it was April 9, 2012 and April 12, 2012 It has been posted on Zacks and Friedman, who are the attorneys for the Beach
On August 22, 2012, the San Francisco Board of Appeals held a final hearing on the Beach Motel/City of San Francisco/Tenderloin Housing Clinic conflict. By a unanimous vote in favor of the Beach Motel, the Board of Appeals overturned the Tenderloin Housing Clinic’s 1997 Zoning Administrator Letter of Determination (“Letter of Determination”).
The Board’s action enables the Beach Motel to seek an extension of its lawful “grandfathered” tourist motel status by submitting an application to the Planning Commission for “conditional use authorization” within 30 days.
Andrew M. Zacks, Esq., managing shareholder of Zacks & Freedman, P.C., said the following: “The Board of Appeals made the right decision. After two decades of litigation against the City and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, our client will finally see justice.”
Wednesday’s decision follows an August 11, 2012 victory by the Beach Motel over the Tenderloin Housing Clinic at the Board of Appeals. The Beach Motel won the right to a rehearing on the Letter of Determination, in part because the Letter of Determination ignored the City’s own evidence that the subject property (4201-4211 Judah Street) has been a tourist motel since 1957.
from the Board of Appeals minutes
(5) APPEAL NO. 97-165
BHAZUBHAI PATEL, Appellant(s)
vs.
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR, Respondent4201- 4211 Judah Street.
Protesting the issuance of a Letter of Determination dated November 19, 1997, addressed to Timothy Lee at Tenderloin Housing Clinic, that finds no legal non-conforming use of the subject property as a tourist hotel has been established.
FOR REHEARING TODAY.
ACTION: Upon motion by President Hwang, the Board voted 4-0 to grant the appeal, overturn the Letter of Determination, adopt the findings stipulated to by the parties, on the basis that the Zoning Administrator erred by not recognizing the information substantiating a non-conforming use that was available in 1997.
SPEAKERS: Andrew Zacks, attorney for appellant; Steven Collier, attorney for determination holder; Scott Sanchez, ZA.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None.
Worth noting as seen in the below video of this hearing is that because the city ignored it's own evidence from the zoning administrator in 1997, the Board of Appeals is required to enter into the record that the zoning administrator either 'erred' or it was an 'abuse of discretion'. The zoning administrator objected, but the Board of Appeals did overturn the 1997 letter of determination because the zoning administrator 'erred'
This now goes before the Planning Commission to get proper zoning permits (conditional use permits), something that couldn't be done before because Randy Shaw and Tenderloin Housing Clinic had the Beach Motel tied up in litigation. More background from the last hearing previously posted here - Beach Motel shenanigans