November 28, 2011

This Week At The Planning Commission

A weekly look at Noe Valley projects in front of the Planning Commission. Information is provided by the Planning Commission, and taken from its published agenda. All hearings are on Thursday at 1:30pm, Room 400 in City Hall.

4366 26TH STREET - north side between Diamond and Douglass Streets; Lot 016B in Assessor’s Block 6556 - Request for Discretionary Review of Building Permit Application No. 2011.02.23.0805, proposing to construct a horizontal rear extension at the first floor level and add a new basement level at the rear (below the proposed first floor extension) to an existing two-story, single family building within the RH-1 (Residential, House, One-Family) Zoning District and 40-X Height and Bulk District.
Staff Analysis: Abbreviated Discretionary Review

Preliminary Recommendation: Do not take Discretionary Review and approve
In brief:
  • The DR requestor has owned the home next door for 50 years and is concerned about light and privacy. It also appears that the DR requestor has existing non-conforming stairs, bedroom and some sort of shed that occupy the same rough footprint of the requested addition. 
  • The applicants moved into their home in 2010 with one child and are expecting twins. They appear to have made considerable effort to minimize expansion and disruption in order to "get to know San Francisco and Noe Valley" in the years ahead.
The full staff analysis contains the requestor's application, the applicant's response, plans, renderings and more.

[SF Planning: 4366 26th St]
[Photo: SF Planning (hat tip to SocketSite for selection]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so curious & the staff analysis link doesn't work. Thanks!

Noe Valley, SF said...

Thanks for the heads up! Fixed. The new Blogger interface is presenting a few problems...

murphstahoe said...

Word to the wise - if you have a pre-application meeting with your neighbors - VIDEOTAPE IT.

Anonymous said...

Why is that murph?

murphstahoe said...

Aside from the high probability of comedic value...

The report linked to here and at least one other incident I know of, the person submitting the DR has "not been forthright" about things that happened in the pre-application meeting - at least in the viewpoint of the person submitting the permit application.

Video is worth a lot more than he said she said.

Anonymous said...

Having been thru the pre-app process I am aware that you need to have all attendees sign in an agenda produced and a summary of the discussion written up. All of this is submitted with the permit app. As far as I know items discussed in the pre-app are not binding.

Anonymous said...

NO, a video at the pre-app meeting is neither necessary or appropriate.

Written comments by the owner and/or architect together with responses are valid enough for the Planning Dept. staff to analyze.

Everybody and their 7 year old child is video taping every single event that happens.

Put this on the Ridiculist.

Anonymous said...

This looks like a thoughtfully designed project on a difficult site. I hope the Planning Department rejects the DR and approves the project as designed.

The complaining neighbor has offered no real valid reasons for denial of the permit. Quite often a DR filer will already own a property that is non conforming or built without proper permits. Sounds like this is the case.

Anonymous said...

I remember this house when it was up for sale, the slope of the backyard was extremely steep and I'm glad to see they found a way to use the space. I don't see that it blocks light or invades privacy for the lower neighbor. Quite honestly, I remember the lower neighbor's house and yard was a blight, their back deck was full of junk and resembled a scene from Silence of the Lambs.. scary.

Anonymous said...

I remember the lower neighbor's house and yard was a blight, their back deck was full of junk and resembled a scene from Silence of the Lambs.. scary.

There are photos of said scene in the staff analysis linked in here.