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Commission requires privacy glazing at 740 Bay Street, denies discretionary review request
Summary
After a Doctor request from an adjacent owner alleging privacy and light impacts, the Planning Commission voted 5–1 to require privacy glazing for a window on the proposed 740 Bay Street addition and declined to sustain the Doctor review on other grounds.
The Planning Commission voted to require privacy glazing on a window the Doctor requester alleged would invade the privacy of his neighboring units and otherwise declined to take broader discretionary review of the 740 Bay Street remodel and rear‑yard additions.
Robert Thorpe, owner of the adjacent 750 Bay, filed a Doctor request citing potential loss of morning light, privacy effects and the presence of a new roof deck and parapet. He urged a modest reduction of the proposed fourth‑floor addition and glazing of a western window to reduce privacy impacts. Project architect Michael Levitt and sponsor representatives supplied shadow studies, story poles and design context and said the proposed top‑floor addition would be a modest increase in height and largely glass on the front (ocean) side.
After discussion, the applicant agreed to privacy glazing for the identified window; the commission voted to take discretionary review in order to require that glazing. The motion to require glazing carried 5–1 (Commission Chair Wu voted no). Commissioners otherwise concluded the project did not present extraordinary circumstances warranting denial of permits.
Why it matters: the discretionary review process allows neighbors to ask for a closer commission review of projects that may have exceptional impacts; commissioners balanced neighborhood concerns about light and privacy against staff findings and the sponsor’s offered mitigation.
Next steps: sponsor to include the privacy glazing condition in permits and proceed with building‑permit filings.
Provenance: public testimony and Doctor request begin at SEG 4234; commission action recorded SEG 4908–SEG 4926.
