Board endorses concept for second unit at 1122 East Haley, asks applicant to proceed to staff hearing officer

The Architectural Board of Review on Sept. 2 supported the concept design for a second residential unit and an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) at 1122 East Haley Street and recommended the applicant proceed to the staff hearing officer for a lot-area modification.

The property owner proposes a new attached/detached arrangement: a 1,143-square-foot second residential unit with a 786-square-foot three-car garage beneath it and a separate 500-square-foot one-story ADU. The site is zoned R-2 but falls short of the minimum zoning lot area for a second unit; Planning staff told the board the lot-area modification is discretionary and will be reviewed by the staff hearing officer.

Architect Sean Lynch of Vogue Design Studio presented plans showing terraced site grading, new garages and private yards for each unit. Lynch said the design seeks to minimize cut-and-fill and preserve the neighborhood rhythm of terraces while providing required off-street parking for both the primary house and the new units.

One in‑person neighbor, Angeline Pepe, said she is concerned about potential view loss and privacy impacts. "It is too high and too much — it would take me all the view off the mountain," Pepe said, adding she uses a backyard view corridor. The applicant responded by showing window locations and limited upper-floor glazing directed away from the neighbor; the plans call for small bedroom windows above nightstands along the proximate side yard and a single larger kitchen window oriented toward the neighbor's lower yard.

Board members praised the applicant’s strategy to tuck parking into the lower portion of the lot to minimize grading, but several asked for clearer site sections and circulation diagrams to demonstrate walkways, stairs and privacy relationships between the new units and existing neighbors. Questions covered egress, trash-handling logistics (trash will be taken to Haley for collection, not the alley), stair geometry and maintenance access to the proposed planters and terraced planting areas.

The board voted to continue the application to the staff hearing officer with supportive direction. The motion noted the board found the second-residential-unit concept compatible with surrounding two-story forms in the area, and asked the applicant to resolve privacy and access/maintenance details and to refine step locations into the ADU entry. The board requested the applicant return with a landscape plan and clearer site sections if required by staff.

What’s next: The applicant will proceed to the staff hearing officer for the discretionary lot-area modification; Planning staff will review the submitted materials and advise whether further ABR review is needed based on the staff hearing officer’s decision.