Williams v. San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals
Opinion
Opinion
Haerle, J.
I. Introduction
Appellant, petitioner in the trial court, appeals from that court’s denial of his motion for an award of attorneys’ fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 (hereafter section 1021.5). That motion followed the trial court’s earlier partial grant of appellant’s petition for a writ of administrative mandamus. We affirm.
II. Factual and Procedural Background
Appellant is the owner of, and resident in, a Victorian-style building located in the 2600 block of Sutter Street in the Western Addition portion of San Francisco. Next door to his residence, at 2617 Sutter Street, was a single-story Victorian building which a developer named Ashbourne Construction Company (the real party in interest below, but not a party to this appeal) wanted to demolish and replace with a four-story, seven-thousand-square-foot, three-unit condominium or apartment building. The Planning Department of the City and County of San Francisco issued both demolition and construction permits for this project on March 12, 1997. Two weeks later, appellant filed a “Protest and Appeal” of the issuance of both permits with respondent San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals (Board).