Board of Appeals adopts revised plans, modifies variance and upholds permit for 1784 Sanchez Street

The San Francisco Board of Appeals on March 25 accepted revised plans and modified a zoning variance for a rear-yard addition at 1784 Sanchez Street, voting 3-0 to condition the permit on plans dated March 25, 2015.

Planning Department staff said parties met and negotiated a compromise that moves the second‑story addition forward so the rear wall aligns with the existing main rear building wall, relocates exterior stairs away from the appellant and alters roof slopes to preclude a deck. "In essence, the second story addition is moved further forward ... it really does not encroach into that required rear yard," Scott Sanchez of the Planning Department told the board.

Appellants’ counsel Kate Poole said the revised drawings represent a “reasonable compromise” and asked the board to adopt the plans as conditions of both the variance and building permit; she said the appellants would not pursue the appeals if the board did so. Project sponsor representatives described concessions including stair relocation and roof-form changes and asked that certain potential future permits not re-open the dispute.

Commissioner Frank Fung moved to grant both appeals, make the five findings for the modified variance, and condition the building permit on adoption of the March 25, 2015 revised plans. The motion passed unanimously. President Anne Lazarus, Vice President Daryl Honda and Commissioner Fung each voted aye.

The board’s action modifies the department’s earlier determination by replacing the previously permitted configuration with the mutually agreed, revised plans. The parties were instructed to provide copies of the March 25 plans to the board’s records and, per the motion, the permit and variance are effective only as conditioned on those adopted plans.