Brougher

This is an appeal from a judgment denying plaintiffs a peremptory writ of mandate directing the Board of Public Works of the City and County of San Francisco and its three members .as commissioners of such board to issue a permit to plaintiffs for the erection of a building, and for damages against the city caused by delay in issuing such permit.

On April 18, 1927, plaintiffs applied to the Board of Public Works for a building permit to erect a ten-story hotel, 110 feet in height, on Jefferson Street in San Francisco, such board being vested by the city charter with the issuance of such building permits, and the application being—as alleged and admitted in the pleadings—in com pliance with the requirements of all building ordinances in force at the time of the application. The board found no objection to the issuance of the permit, but failed to take action thereon until ordinance No. 7519 (new series) was adopted by the supervisors and approved May 9, 1927, by the mayor, under the provisions of which all buildings within a defined area, which included the property on which it was proposed to erect the hotel, were limited to a maximum height of forty feet. The board thereupon…