Board of Appeals denies rehearing request over Lakeview rooftop deck

The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Oct. 23 denied a rehearing request filed by Peter Holoida over a rooftop deck built above an accessory dwelling unit at 763 Lakeview Avenue. Vice President John Trezvino and Commissioners Rick Swigg and JR Epler voted to deny the motion, 3–0.

Holoida told the board he and the permit holder had not reached the compromise the board had encouraged at a prior hearing and raised two issues: he said the ADU might not sit in the correct position and argued the project lacked required separation from flammable materials. Holoida said neighbors had not been able to resolve the dispute after the Sept. 25 decision.

The permit holder, Claudia Villicana, rebutted that the standards for rehearing require new or materially different evidence and that nothing about the project or its plans had changed since the board’s prior decision. Villicana said the city previously determined the permit was properly issued and that she had documented outreach offering compromise on privacy and noise mitigation.

Planning staff and the Department of Building Inspection told the board they had not received new technical information. DBI presented a FS06 fire information sheet and confirmed the San Francisco Fire Department’s review and approval of the plans, including reference to a 3-foot setback on the FS06 sheet cited in the record.

Commissioners said they were sympathetic to the neighbors’ inability to reach agreement but found that the rehearing standard — new evidence or manifest injustice — had not been met. Commissioner Swigg made the motion to deny the rehearing. The board voted 3–0 to deny the rehearing request and to uphold the previously issued permit.

The board took no further action on the deck at this hearing; any future enforcement or code questions could be pursued through DBI or other administrative channels.