Commission declines proposed rear-stair expansion at 780–784 Green St.; staff to check repair option

The Commission voted unanimously on Feb. 9 to decline discretionary approval of a proposed expansion of a rear egress stair at 780–784 Green Street, and asked planning staff to consult with the Department of Building Inspection about whether the existing stair could instead be repaired or otherwise made code-compliant without the proposed build‑out.

Planning staff (Aaron Hollister) presented the request as a discretionary review tied to residential-design guidelines. The sponsor's engineer and project representatives said the expansion (roughly 7.5 feet further into the rear yard) was proposed to achieve current building-code rise-and-run standards for safe egress. Neighbors (Peter and Krista Gallagher and other adjacent residents) opposed the change, saying the posted variance process had not been completed, that procedural notices were missing, and that the larger stair would significantly reduce privacy, light and air in their primary living spaces.

Neighborhood witnesses described the existing conditions and asserted the variance had not been issued because the zoning administrator had taken the matter under advisement and specified conditions that were not yet satisfied. The project sponsor's engineer countered that the existing winding stairs are not compliant with current building codes and that the proposed solution offered a safer egress condition. The Commission confined its review to residential-design-guideline considerations (the variance itself and building-code conformance are separate DBI matters). After deliberation the Commission made a motion to "not take discretionary review and approve the project as proposed" and instead asked staff to explore whether a repair path exists that would avoid the proposed intrusion; that motion passed unanimously.