being struck -- commissioner fung: aye. president garcia: aye. commissioner hurtado: aye. >> the permit is upheld with all those conditions and that finding. thank you. >> we can move on to item eight, appealed number 12-005. the property is at 2754 through 2756 beckers street, protesting the issuance to kevin robinson and jake vink a permit to alter a building -- wide in a garage door, reconfigure walls at back of a garage, electrical upgrade for condo conversion, new insulated windows at sides and rear, remodeled kitchen and

bath, add new bath, and refurbish existing penthouse. we'll start with the appellant. you have seven minutes. >> good evening, members of the board. my name is jeff -- is geoff wood. hopefully, we have an easier appealed to figure out here. the permit holder wants to do mostly a lot of interior work, which we do not have any real objection to. "we are concerned about is the -- what we are concerned about is the plan for the roof deck. by way of introduction, we did try to meet with the permit holder before finding the appeal to resolve our issues. we got close, but i guess were unable to reach agreement.

we have three main concerns. most of them involve loss of privacy, air, and sunlight. to start with, this is a copy of the permit holder's plan for the roof deck. i would just point out a couple of things on this plan. the first concern involves the north part of the roof deck. you can see a dotted line at the lower bottom of this picture. the roof rail baekeland is a 30 inch solid wood rail -- the roof

rail they planned is a 30 inch solid wood rail. it has been changed to 32 inches from 36, another 6 inches. my objection is i am the property owner on that side of the roof of their property. i have a back down below. sunlight, air, and white will be blocked by the roof rail. it is right at the edge of the light. what i have asked them to do -- the simplest way would be to move it back about a foot and a half, so it is 5 feet from the property line. they can keep the same configuration and want to have on the rest of the roof rail.

that would give me the sunlight the roof rail would cut out. this is a north facing back, so sunlight is very important. the deckhouse right now blocks a big part of the sunlight we get on the deck. we are really concerned about adding more features that would block the sun. i think that is asolution. it does not really reduce the size of their deck much, and it is cheaper than reconfiguring it at the location it was, because that is within a 5 foot fire zone and would have to be safety glass. second concern involves a skylight on the south side.

that a concerned their privacy is disturbed. the bedroom is right there at the top of the third floor, right there in their building. the roof deck -- people on the roof deck can look at the dressing room. the bedroom is on one side. there is a bathroom there. they are concerned about privacy. the plan shows the barbecue up against the light will. they are not sure they want to smell the barbecue sauce and so forth while they are in their house. that will also affect anybody else on that. it is going to be a condo. there is another unit down below, and on top of the building. our suggestion is to move the

roof rails back about 2 feet, so it is even with the deckhouse, as shown on the dotted line on this plan. our third concern is the roof on the east side of the deckhouse -- the plans show very little improvement to take place. they really are not going to use that portion of the deck, but they want access to it. they show a new door and stair going from the deckhouse to that portion of the roof. i am concerned that use their -- there will cause the same problems in lack of privacy and so forth on my deck down below.

and the same with the people on the other side of this property. their bedroom privacy will be invaded, if that part of the deck is used. we would like no use of the deck. i think that is what the permit holders intend, but they show this new door astaire. the access could be provided by a little gate like they have shown on their plan. this line is an existing date they have proposed. we would like to have them put another date of their -- another gate there, so they have access to the east side of the roof. they do not need to add any improvements. in summary, we have three requests we would like to have.

we have solutions for those three areas that we are concerned about. we are in a neighborhood which recommends that neighbors cooperate. we think this is something that would be helpful for the neighbors. thank you. >> thank you. we would like to hear from the permit holders. >> i am kelly condom. -- condon. i am the designer of this project. the topics on the appeal or that we were blocking both sides. the neighbor has a rear yard. he is on a corner lot.

he enjoys more exposure to light and air than most people in san francisco do by virtue of that fact. the neighbor on the other side has the identical light well. he told us his facing windows are in a bathroom and a closet. that is the way all of these lots are laid out. our building is. there is a room with a sink and a shower, and the other room is a closet. we did meet with them, and each time they asked for another thing. we think you are going to build a deck on the back of your roof, and these stairs we had never even heard of. we had no intent to build something we have not applied for permits for. we have stairs coming down out of the penthouse because it is 18 inches up in the air to maintain drainage on the roof. we are never going to go out there unless something is wrong

with the roof. that is why we have not made changes. we did not feel these were valid concerns. commissioner fung: are you finished? >> yes. also note that if you look at the photos -- should i put this here? this is the neighbor that just spoke. this right here is the end of his house. he does not have a light well. that is the back of his house. also note the existing her putt on both our neighbors are 30 inches tall. -- the existing parapet on both

our neighbors are 30 inches tall. this is the view from our roof, which will not be building an illegal back on. that is not a light well. that is his front yard. commissioner hillis: you have a light well? >> we have a light well, but they do not. commissioner hillis: is it on the property where his building is? or is it on open space? >> it is right here. commissioner hillis: what is on the other side of your light well? >> his building. the back of his building lined up right in the center of the light well. it has a roof that slopes down. by the time you get to our second level, he has fully enclosed our light well. commissioner hillis: so his issue with the rail on the back

blocking his sunlight -- >> which would follow our parapet. the reason the low were 30 inches are solid -- he wanted us to move a foot in. we would still have to fire grade the railing. then he wanted it to have glass 5 feet in, which is in the way of the door. in the floor plan, you will notice we have been asked by -- >> face it the way you would look at it. >> we had a meeting with the department of building inspection before applying to find a way to be able to keep the existing spiral staircase as our means of egress. the concern they had was will be you -- will be lower unit have access to the roof? we need it to only have access to the upper unit. so we have put a metal gate

around the top of the stairs. if i move the railing in, we would not be able to get to and from the deck. president garcia: would you go back to photograph two? show me where someone would be standing to take pictures in photograph three. >> this is better to show you on the floor plan. it is taken from the front of a -- in front of the building with a wide angle lens. photograph three is taken from the back of the building. i am standing right at the edge to get a picture of the back, as far as i could without falling. commissioner fung: and the

height of the deck of the neighbor, the appellant -- >> their deck is over the top of the garage. it is on the second level of their plot. commissioner fung: 1 full floor below the top of your roof? >> it is two story is below our roof. -- stories below our roof. >> any other questions, commissioners? thank you. mr. sanchez? scott sanchez: i do not have much to add. the project is principally permitted and compliant. non-neighborhood notification is required. the appellant property is located to the south. given the location of the south, they would not feature any direct sunlight into that like well.

-- light well. the deck is set back from the property line and matches with the light well. when they step back a few feet from the railing, he will not have a direct line into the adjacent property. the appellant has created concerns about privacy, about the potential impact of the grille. i did not even know if there is a requirement to show the gril ol on there. if it were someone to bring a charcoal grill onto the roof, i do not know that would need to be shown on any plan. these are items for the board to consider in your decision making tonight. i am available for any questions. thank you. >> thank you. mr. duffy?

>> i do not have much to add either. the real hyper code would be 42 inches high. -- the rail height per code would be 42 inches high. i do not see a problem with the gas grill. i think it is far enough from the property line to make code. i am available for any questions. >> thank you. is there any public comment on this item? president garcia: what you think about it? >> i am tina bartlett hinckley -- president garcia: how many people intend to offer public comment? three minutes.

>> i am tina bartlett hinckley, and i live at 2775 hilbert street. hopefully you received a letter from me. you will see that the lot is on baker street. i am on filbert street. it isn't unusual cottage at the rear of the law. when this building was offered for sale, they did tout the opportunities of a roof deck. the plan was that the upper unit would get the roof deck and the lower unit would get the backyard. i did go and see the property, and when i went up there i was horrified that i could look out of the back -- can you see this? you can look from my bed, from those windows, directly into my bedroom. here is another picture, right from my bed.

my concern is that with the plan where they are asking to have two doors in that penthouse -- the existing penthouse is basically a stair that comes up. once it is a condominium, what they will do is put a roof deck in the back. the current owners may say they are not going to do it. but i have a picture of a roof deck that was put on illegally across the street. the staircase goes down to both units. one person gets one side. the other person gets the east side. they have the no. views as well. i do believe in live and let live. in my neighborhood, when i bought my house, it was a 2000 square foot house. everyone has said we need open space. next door, to the east side, the

planning commission granted a variance so that this building was extended. it comes right up against the house. right across the street, they were given permission to go upper. i am fumbling for papers. my view directly across the street has been blocked. basically, the value of my house is my garden. i would like to be able to keep my windows open so i can look out into the garden. i have privacy so people will not look directly into my bedroom from a roof deck. i do not see why they need two doors going out to the roof. if it is oriented so the deck is to the west, one door should suffice. i do not think you need them much access for roof maintenance. nobody else has it. >> thank you.

other public comment? seeing none, we will start with a bottle. -- -- rebuttal. appelant, you have three minutes. >> ok if we split it? president garcia: anything you want to do. >> i am the south-facing neighbor. i understand the confusion, listening to the description. people are coming out -- the house next to theirs is the same. we actually have bedrooms upstairs. there is a closet, a bathroom, a whole suite. the privacy is important to us. we put in shutters of the week blocked off people looking below, in the light well from their kitchen, but i cannot stop

people from above looking in, unless things are moved back. i think that was already mentioned. were the people on the deck just a couple of feet back further, that would allow privacy in my area, which is all i am asking. i thought it was a very modest thing. i do not think losing eight or 12 feet of a 500 foot deck will have much impact on the neighbor, but i think you have a profound impact on my privacy and my light. the other aspect is the barbecue grill. i know it has gotten short shrift. but if someone is going to put a grill right on a light well and start burning things there -- i know what they plan that in the description. of course it is going to impact my house, my bedroom, my clothes, and my bathroom. all i am asking is a tiny

solution, which is move it back in just a couple of feet, which would be a simple resolution and would not cause any substantial impact on the neighbors, but would have a substantial benefit to me. >> i would like to point out one thing, using the photos that the permit holder has supplied. if you look at this shot of my deck, which is really the backyard, you can see a sliver of sunlight that comes through. that is what i am trying to protect. if you see the sloped roof that is mentioned, the reason there is not a light well is i sloped the entire roof of the building for the previous homeowner, so

they would have a lot of light. they actually have views out of their bathroom. that is a lot more expensive kind of a change then we are asking tonight. thank you. commissioner fung: i have a question for mr. strasburg. the windows in your light well lead to what rooms? >> one is a bathroom. another is our large closet, our changing room. commissioner fung: you have windows on all three walls? >> it is a light well. up like that? okay. president garcia: this is the bedroom? >> that is my sequence. >> we have three minutes of

rebuttal now for the permit holder. if you have anything more. commissioner fung: this is from the permit? >> we do not have any notes that say we are going to burn food on the roof. what we do have is a picture of a gas grill with a lid on it. and notes about how far that has to be from the property line to ventilate properly. most of these gas grills have these hoods on them. i do not understand how that is when to affect these rooms. privacy wise, we are standing even further away from the railing the new would be. and it sounds like the bedroom is the point of concern for

privacy. unless you are going to stand on top of the grill, how are you going to see into this room? we are not putting a deck on the back of that roof. the plans that she references for the resale of the home -- they did not show a deck on the back of the roof. they showed how you could add a roof deck exactly where i am adding this roof deck. the only intent of the stairs is to make it easier for someone to get out of the house. that is it. president garcia: that is the reason for the second door? >> the door on front lead to out to the deck. the other is mechanical access, surface access. we could do a gate. but the way we had drawn the plans, we made it expand over toward the wall of a light well.

we could have jogged the deck around the light well. our railing continues straight across. it does not jogged in on the side. there is not room for a gate there. if we pulled it back, it would be unsafe to get through. at some point, you are pulling the grill further and further into the usable part of the deck. the door is the easiest of this point of access. we have windows in the penthouse already facing the other property. if there are privacy issues, it is just as viable as a point of voyeurism as any of them. they are existing on the part of the roof we are not using. commissioner fung: 2 below

questions. is there gas piping going to the bedroom? -- two questions. >> yes. we planned for a gas line to come up behind it. you can barely see it. commissioner fung: is there anything magical about the location? could it not be against the wall? >> kevin robinson, owner of 2756. we would be also willing to move the location of the rail -- of the grill. it may just be a charcoal weber that is on wheels. we could move it from the south wall of the deck to the north side. commissioner fung: as a technical question, the rail

that you placed with your northern neighbor is correct in that if you moved it over a foot or so, we would have an automated rail. >> there is a security grilse of the lower neighbor cannot get to the roof. -- grill so the lower neighbor cannot get to the roof. it is only 2 we will feet between the -- two feet between the rail and the door,

and you need three feet. commissioner fung: you need only one leaf of the door. shift it. >> but if we ship it, we are in the 2 foot 10 region. i am getting the fire regulation -- the people who would be using the gate would be able to go through the gate downstairs. this is the widest point of access. i no longer meets my fire egress. keep in mind the top 18 inches -- it is only the lower 30 inches.