by looking at the front of the building, you can see that it steps back and it looks kind of appropriate. but when you looked aside from the street face, all you see is as big, huge, black wall. that is what i am trying to avoid in this condition. and since my wife's property -- i am afraid this is what we are going to get. the other issue is about the brown for being too reticent to be converted to an illegal unit. i would be proposing to create the deed restriction on the property so that they cannot do that. thank you.

>> i am robert hall, a live in the house just east of the residents. as you know, the leaves originally wanted to build a horizontal extension only. i am here to request that you please reconsider approving the original architectural plan which would be in accordance with sections 133 and 134 of the city planning code. i have talked with neighbors that have a direct line of sight and they all agree that the original plan would have much less negative impact on the neighborhood than the current design. the neighbors i talked to are tracy burton, [reading names]

if the vertical edition where clearly to enhance the neighborhood, there will not be so much of determined opposition to the project. contrary to sanford it is residential guidelines, the house will not protect the neighborhood character, will not improve the attractiveness and quality of life in the city, does not ensure that the scale is compatible with surrounding buildings. will not maintain like to adjacent properties. will result in the loss of privacy, and will lower adjacent property values. president olague: any additional speakers in support of the d.r. requesters?

project sponsor. >> in the afternoon, everyone. i am the owner of the house. i want to give you guys a brief history. my parents bought a home in the late 70's. i was raised there. it was only after i got married and had children that i moved to another part of the city but still considered the property as our family homes and my mom's still lives there and it is where i grew up. nine years ago, my father passed away, and since then, her health has deteriorated and there have been several close calls that required a paramedic to take her to the emergency room. over a year ago, we had a wake- up call while having lunch and

she collapsed. our family really needs to make a lifestyle change to support her needs. we had a family meeting and it was decided that my wife and i would move into the house to take care of her. the amount of space that we were asking for would include space for a multi-generation family. we have a 75-year-old, a 13- year-old, a 10-year-old, and to middle-aged adults living in the house. they have lived in the house for over 34 years, and it was her desire to live in the house. he designed a space for her to continue to have her privacy and independence as much as possible. it is designed for personal use and not for illegal units for rent. there is a space for two cars.

we have to vans, a car, and a motorcycle. the current structure has a two- car garage and we would like to keep that. by doing this, we feel that it wouldn't take any parking spaces away from the neighborhood had diminished the impact on the neighborhood. the second level is the main living area for all of us. it includes areas for hallmark entertainment, and bedrooms for each of my children. not shown is the intention to furnish the bedroom and home office furniture for my wife. she works at, couple days of the week. in june of 2010, which developed of the plant with the architect and held a neighborhood meeting to discuss the project with our

neighbors. he included a horizontal extension and one neighbor attended the meeting. we submitted the plans to the city and we were asked to modify the plan. the allowance was for 12 feet horizontal extension with 5 feet set back on both sides. we tried to reach an agreement with the assigned a city planner for additional length and width on the horizontal extension. we were informed her that the rtt would support a vertical extension. we went back to the drawing board to develop the plan before you today. we worked carefully tonight at a 12-foot ceiling or a pitched roof making the building height as low and flat as possible. the building is designed to be compatible with the patterns and architectural features of the surrounding buildings and the

neighborhood, and the residential design guidelines. the extension levels are shown pages 10-16. the request thursday have concerns about the open space. the design of the building is designed to be compatible with the architectural features of surrounding buildings in the neighborhood as stated on guidelines of page 9. photos of homes on our block and within walking distance with third level extensions are shown on page 10-16. the requestor has a concern that the building is not next to each other. it does not have unusual impact

of her privacy. there are no windows on the south-facing wall to look into her space. they 17 speaks to privacy and recommends the use of solid railings rather than setbacks. [chime] president olague: we will hear from speakers in support of the project sponsor. doris lee and cathy lee. come up to the mic if i claled you -- called your name. >> hi, my name is doris lee. i am his wife, co-owner of the property. i just want to pickup where kyle left off here. the requestor has concern about

the reduction of privacy. i will skip ahead. it is part of the structure. since we don't have windows on the south facing walls, we completed skylights to get the area of the house of lading. the architect who tells us is needed because of the skylights. we are regular, working class people. i know that there aren't many of us left here. we plan to work with local engineers, contractors, and local merchants. we know that the market has taken a downturn along with the rest of the economy and we can probably find a home in the bay area with the space that we are asking for. our roots are here and we want to continue to raise them here.

i also want to clarify that when we present the plans to the city planner, they didn't have forced us to build vertically, but our options were very limited. with the extension of horizontally, it would not have given us enough space. thank you. >> i'm cathy lee, i am here to support the remodeling project. i hear the neighbors' concerns about the remodeled, but i also want to have all of you understand our point of view. like my brother has said, the

father had passed away about eight years ago, and we are a very tight family. our grandmother brought us up and she basically passed away eight months after my dad. we only have my mom left. she was fairly young when this happened and things have been fine. she is 75 now, and her health is ok, but we have moments. we had a family discussion and we thought at this time, it would be best to have the family moved in with my mom. helping her with a very model to have her still maintain independence and privacy. should this happen, there is a sense of comfort and security not only for my mom, but for all

of us together. that really makes it worthwhile to really try to have people understand why we are doing this. and why the size of the house, there are five members living in the house. this allows my mom to continue living in the same neighborhood that she has known all these years, still be able to take public transportation. i think that enhances the quality of her life for the years that she still has left. and it also makes us very happy to know that we are providing her the best care that we can give her without going to assisted living and make it to the point where she may not need to do that because she has her family members to help out until

it gets to the point where we may need to. at least we know that she lived a happy life with her family. and she has the grandkids, it really makes a difference. i hope everyone can see our point, it is not just remodeling the house, but it is the whole family valued at taking care of the next generation as well. we were taking care of by our grandmother, and i think it sets a precedent on family values as adults. i support this remodeled extremely, and i hope you will do, too. [chime] president olague: are there any additional speakers in support of the project sponsor? each d.r. requestor has 2 minutes for rebuttal. the other d.r. --

and >> i just want to say that i do understand the need that they want for this expansion, but i have to take into account and the other families, to have homes and to have loved ones. some are living multi- generational right now within compliance. my grandfather and my cousins lived in the house with six of us. we know what it was to be a tight family, literally. we have to think about everyone in the neighborhood and the concerns of everyone in the neighborhood. it is for the greater good of everyone. and i want them to be able to do something, i just think they can modify its and reworked the bottom floor, maybe get a little more living space out of that

and get the second story and be able to take care of it. if they go to a third floor, there are things like what our roofs, things that can mitigate some of the things that they are doing. i am not cold hearted, i am just thinking of quality of life for everyone in the neighborhood. president olague: you are going to take the two minutes, ok. >> i just wanted to say that i totally understand why they want to do this. the whole family thing. but they are impacting the whole neighborhood on this, and i wish that the city would allow them to be horizontal thing and accommodate their needs and not do the vertical fin. thank you. president olague: project sponsor, that's all. project sponsor has two minutes.

>> i don't have much to say, but hopefully you vote in my favor. our intention for this from model is really for my family, my mom, no intentions of renting anything out. we really try to work with the extension rather than the vertical, but the amount they gave me was just like a room, and they wanted it set back 5 feet on both sides also. there was no way to make it flow of the other bedroom for my son, let alone for us. i hope you can take this into

consideration. president olague: the public hearing is closed. commissioner antonini: thank you. i think this is a tastefully done addition. there are other three-story additions in the neighborhood. i agree that some have not been done as well as they could be, but i am not sure that we necessarily detract from the neighborhood by tastefully putting a third story on, and making these homes more appealing for families, especially when you have your bedroom separated. i am not sure i see the impact of being that significant. the setback is 15 feet from the front, her 23 from the rear.

apparently, there is a 40-foot separation between the house and the neighbors to the rear that would be 40 second ave. the idea of the horizontal addition on the same floor, you have to have a rear yard requirement that precludes the about the vacant go out. and allowing for separation between the neighbors setbacks that makes for a very small and narrow edition. i could understand the problem. the downstairs room is clearly designed for use of a parent. if the neighbors feel better, you can always put a notice of special restriction on it for any future use to make sure that it isn't used as a separate unit, separate living in it. i'm not sure there is a connection between the broad and the unit, those are sometimes things that we do.

a of think there is any problem, it is quite clear how it is going to be used. for the situation where the view was mentioned, they are not protected unless there is an easement. while this could detract from your view of an area, there is no protection against that. it is encouraging to hear that the family occupying this house would be occupying in our san francisco natives and they have stayed here. i don't see that it rises to the level of the unusual or extraordinary. commissioner sugaya: i have a question for the project sponsor. and then one for staff. when you initially went to the planning department, did you

have a horizontal scheme in mind? >> yes. commissioner sugaya: and it went into what i presume to be the required backyard area? >> the original extension, i don't remember, but i think we were asking for the maximum extension of knowing that we would be cut back from the city. but it was the maximum allowable extension. but what came back was only 1/3 of it. and what was surprising, out of the about they gave me, they wanted set back 5 feet on both sides. commissioner sugaya: but there was a scheme that was thought up they were comfortable with?

on two levels, that went back? a >> yes. commissioner sugaya: staff, i presume that part of the reasoning for the third story alternative is concerned about rear yard open space, setbacks, open space? >> correct. typically, we will discourage residential structures to go substantially deeper than the neighboring homes. they have options in this case of going up, in which case we will recommend that the third level or top-level be set back from both the front and the rear and depending on what is adjoining. we don't typically encourage that they be moved in on the side. commissioner sugaya: do you know, in this case, and i don't know if you do, but the original

scheme seemed to be one that took full advantage of what allowable in terms of the rear yard setback. they didn't ask for a variance. >> i don't know the specifics of the original plan that came in, but from what was explained by the project's sponsor, it sounds like you came in with a project that was taking advantage of what the code be twice as deep f the neighboring homes. typically, we are just not going to recommend someone come in with that. we're recommending to see modifications. >> and there isn't the third story addition anywhere. there isn't one in the entire block across the street from both streets that i can see.

it seems like, i don't know. this building was also, as pointed out by one of the people testifying, it is right at the end, and you will see the entire second and third story elevations from one angle. and there isn't a building next to it that hides the upper floor. that is a concern to me. if given sentiment in the neighborhood that they would rather see a de, horizontal addition, i don't know. maybe that is the direction to go. >> that would put us at odds with what is stated specifically in the residential contract. commissioner sugaya: i understand that. commissioner miguel: i think commissioner sugaya -- thank commissioner sugaya for

clearing up stuff. there are very few third floor -- there is only one anywhere near this that did a compatible designed to the original house. the others are, truthfully, awful. they never had a licensed architect as far as i can see, work on them. are there were not thinking when they did it. there is one that was quite well done. it is hard on this one because of these were turned out in the sun said jr. 5. they are small. across the street are jr. for. it is just about exactly the

same layout, i am very familiar with them. they are small homes to start with. it is not as if you can squeeze a multigenerational family in easy. i had a stand of the department's situation, you force them to go up, or do you violate the design guidelines and have them go out? in either case, what ever happens they multiplied in the neighborhood. what we see coming before us is of fort hood larger single- family homes to increase their size because the family is increasing in size. something is going to start giving some where, and i think i have the same problems commissioner sugaya has.

commissioner moore: i appreciate hearing commissioner sugaya and commissioner miguel addressing something i have been talking about the last several years, i believe the residential design guidelines, while well- intentioned, are too generic to deal with the subtleties and how distinctly different parts of the city have created a collective building forms for the residential design guidelines that did not fully capture the collective value of all buildings. it is in the respect of all buildings being similar, relative to height where we have a specific quality of life. if there is a need to intensify or enlarge a unit, i would

strongly support a careful investigation into horizontal editions. if the lots are deep enough to do that, specifically, generally the rear yard setbacks. there are 20 people, 20 owners supporting the idea that the previous schema, one that the applicant himself had proposed had enough strength and residence for the neighbors to say, we are doing it this way. just to stick with guidelines, to repeat myself, specifically, they are not responsive enough to the variety of situations. i would say that we continue this and ask for the project to come back as a two-story addition to sit down with the residential design team to hit on how we are expecting the

residential design guidelines to protect the larger context rather than executing buildings that results in a 30-foot high wall. president olague: this has been something raised as long as i have been on the commission as well, even before commissioner sugaya or commissioner moore's time here. we made mention of the neighborhood in the city, i think it is the only one where they have really specific -- it is a different one. and have their own specific design guidelines that are outside of the generality, because is the generalized that is hard to really apply.

it just seems that this is probably one of the criticisms where it becomes such a challenge because you have families that come to us with the horizontal and we tell them, because we have design guidelines, hot and they want to extend its upward. but by this time, then you have neighbors that would prefer the design that is in violation of our guidelines. the family has probably spent the knows how much money on architects or whatever, and we are here saying, go back to what you're going to do originally, which would mean more money and more time on their end. it is really easy for us appear