Board of Appeals denies appeal, upholds permit to remove unpermitted deck at 51 Pixley Street

The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Oct. 12 denied an appeal by the new owners of 51 Pixley Street and upheld a building permit to remove an unpermitted rear deck and stairs. President Rick Swig made the motion to deny, and the board voted 5-0 to uphold the permit.

Corey Teague, the Planning Department's zoning administrator, told the board the site traces to a 1983 variance that created two substandard lots and included a condition requiring a minimum 30-foot separation between rear walls (a 15-foot minimum rear yard on each lot). Teague said a rear deck and stair were built without a permit after the home was constructed in 1986. In 2021 the prior owner sought a variance to replace and legalize the deck; after neighbor opposition that variance application was withdrawn and the owner instead filed a building permit to remove the unauthorized deck. That building permit was…