i also do not understand why anyone would want to go forward and build such a project when there are neighbors directly around them that are not happy. a few years ago, and neighbor directly behind me came to me and my neighbors and told us about a project they were considering before that plans drawn up. they said there were thinking about building its third floor. i told them i was not happy about it at all. i told them to go horizontally as far as they want and when i care, as long as he did not go up. he decided to only approve this lower level and not build vertically. in my discretionary review, but several photographs of third- story additions in our neighborhood. of them in to show how ugly they are, how disruptive they are, how out of scale to the rest of the houses around. they are a visual eyesore dwarfing the houses next to the but it is another vertical extension i am against.

i am against vertical extensions in the entire neighborhood. it ruined the character of the street. combined with her rent is utility poles and wires, it looks messy and causes stress to me. the never had is comprised mostly of two-story homes, some one-story houses, and physical, visual, and people density is low. that attracted me to the neighborhood 10 years ago. i prefer to maintain this density of housing. we want you to say no to this vertical extension in go with the original plans that was submitted. i also want to show one other diagram. this is the subject property. president olague: i need you to speak into the microphone could you can move it. >> this box here is the subject property.

all these are around here are people that oppose. that concludes my time. thank you. president olague: we will hear from the second dr requester, then supporters of both. >> hi, i am a little nervous, so bear with me. my name is patricia, and i am the current owner of the property that abuts the lease property to the south, which has been in my family for 53 years. i grew up with my grandfather, a cousin, brothers, and sisters. this picture here -- wrong one. i am here to oppose the vertical

edition as it stands. my first objection to the proposed third-story addition -- president olague: you can -- >> i am sorry. this is the property right here. it is out of context with the surrounding homes. directly across the street are tan one-story homes. on the the lead side of the street, their two-story stucco homes, with the exception of the business corridor. the addition of the third story would put the housing out of character and violates section 101.1 of the planning code. second, i wondered during construction, during the planning, the home location was taken into consideration. it is completely visible from

the street. it would have a large blind while measuring 31.5 feet from the street. it this proposal is proposed to didn't -- [unintelligible] it will add 13 feet four inches to the existing height and would be a public eyesore as well as an imposing structure facing my yard, removing any ambient daylight from my rear windows, limiting my view. i die a blank wall would cover the entire rear of my property. this is what it will look like. all of these factors -- the third point would be the rooftop deck overlooking my property, which would take away any sense of privacy. it would stare directly into my back windows and into my ear, losing any sense of privacy and usefulness.

we would need to hide behind closed curtains and avoid the art. the top allied wall with the overhead decks would make the art feel more like being part of a present an uncomfortable for the children who play in it now. all these factors combined with greatly devalue my property and limit the quality of life. also speak with mrs. lowe and mr. chang on both sides of me. i cannot go to the neighborhood meeting because i was it out of town, but i spoke to him for over an hour on the phone discussing my concerns and understanding of the need of additional space. he stated the building forced him to go from a two-story horizontal addition to a 3- story critical edition. i expect -- i said i would prefer a horizontal admission. i believe by reworking the plans in utilizing the first story

more efficiently than he did the same usage on two floors. perhaps the city would be conducive to this. my other fear is the blank area that is currently showing on the plans on the bottom floor could easily be converted into an illegal unit in a later time, which is rampant in our neighborhood. should all else felt, we need to do something to the south facing huge blind wall. i suggest setting back the third floor deck at least 5 feet from the south property line. the guard rails could be changed. open hand rose, further and lightening the looks of the southside. and the upper back decks, are they really necessary is there going to have the use of their yard, too? these might mitigate some of the privacy issues that we are dealing. my main concern about this is that the best in your stand-up. i have lived in the multi- generational home, and we made

it work on two stories. i think what will happen -- [bell rings] i'm sorry. if you look at this, you can understand that it will bid 31.5 floodwall. thank you very much. i also have a list of people. unfortunately i had a second list, but in my haste to get here, i left it at home. there were an additional people on the list. >> speakers in favor of the dr. i have a number of cards. george, hope, robert, albert, james, charles. just, in any order. state your name. >> good afternoon.

my name is hope lee chang. president olague: speak right into the microphone. >> i live on an 43 ullula street. that lady is my neighbor. the building is very close to my backyard. my kitchen and dining room is very close. we have a feeling this is not very good, so i do not like it. thanks. >> my name is george, a friend of the family of the house at 4140. item three or four times a week. and i see it will be blocking if they build the building. [unintelligible]

it will be an invasion of privacy, because you could see dining, bedroom, and the bathroom. it seems to me i would be very happy if the commissioners make a final decision to block the construction of that 43rd avenue. thank you very much. >> hello, my name is -- president olague: speak right into the microphone, please. >> we need a little bit of humor here. my name is charles. i live at 2475 42nd avenue. i have been there since march 1, 1958. it is the sunset that we love.

two-story garage, living space on top. there is a gradual input to tear the ambiance of this area apart. add44th and teravell, there was a successful hardware store, and they got a little of the -- of buddy. i do not know why the planning commission approved it. there is a three-story building that destroys the neighborhood, the whole thing. i have a letter i was going to lead -- read from -- a letter i was going to read, but you have a copy of it. but, please. one final thing, and i am with in my two minutes. the people that want to expand their building wanted to go horizontal. somebody on the planning commission said no, you will go

three stories. and why that is, to this day, i do not know why they said go three stories when there is plenty of room to go straight across and keep the facades of the building in confluence and enjoyment -- i am upset about this whole thing. but i think it is a crime to let this thing go through. thank you. >> hi, my name is james. i live on 42nd avenue. i want to reach a quick statement. i am a third generation sunset residents. i bought my house because of the view. i also have a deck built to take advantage of the ocean view. the construction was done in a way not to depreciate the value of my neighbors homes. the only real investment and holdings most of us have our our homes peter it is a 40-foot

building allowance -- of that were enacted by all people living on 43rd avenue, all the houses on 42nd avenue would have their ocean views wiped out. michael smith made the argument in the report that ocean views on our streets are not impeded because of being on a slope. before the story, a relatively new commercial building on the 40th not only takes out our review of blue and white water, but the whole horizon. i invite all of you to come to my house to see the fair lawn switch would be indicated. the original building proposal to extend horizontal was and is supported by neighbors. the question i have made repeatedly and countless times to michael smith and others is whether there is a precedent for allowing, or has there ever been exceptions made to allow horizontal construction beyond the zoning regulations anywhere in the city and county? if so, why not in this instance? thank you.

>> hello, my name is albert, and i oppose the project. i have no problem with them increasing their square footage. the problem lies in the location of the house. most the third story additions are mid-block, with neighbors and nestling the building of a diminishing their mass and the impact on the block. unfortunately, this project is at the end of the block. this leaves the top 31.5 foot wide wall for all to see. in bernal heights and the eastern neighbor the guidelines address this concern. i know that sunset is not bernal heights, but the architects i never the thought that it was important, i believe that the architects in sunset should

also. my idea to address this problem -- problem is to lie in the south wall of this project. this can be accomplished by stepping the third story and deck back in 5 feet, creating an open and a real condition. this reduces the mass of the continuous property line wall. i have a picture of a house on the sunset 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