Board of Appeals denies jurisdiction request over dormer permit at 246 Eleventh Avenue

The San Francisco Board of Appeals on July 25 denied a request to take jurisdiction over a building permit for a dormer at 246 Eleventh Avenue, finding the request was untimely and not supported by evidence of a city error.

Donald Fu, who said he has lived across the street 35 years, told the board he learned only belatedly of a dormer being added in front of his kitchen window and raised privacy concerns and inconsistent notification. Fu urged the board to intervene to protect his privacy.

Ronald Yu, representing the permit holder, said the dormer was processed as an over-the-counter dormer permit that is exempt from the 03/11 neighborhood-notification rule. Planning Department zoning administrator Scott Sanchez told the board a 1996 bulletin exempts limited-size dormers from neighborhood notice and that the project plans comply with that bulletin. Senior building inspector Joseph Duffy described site visits and confirmed the dormer was set back and that opaque (obscured) glazing would likely resolve visibility concerns.

In deliberations, commissioners said the board may excuse untimeliness only where the city committed an error in notice; they said no such error was shown here. The board moved to deny the jurisdiction request and recorded a roll-call vote of 5–0 to deny, with President Chris Huang and Commissioners Frank Fung, Rich Hillis, Arceli Artado and Anne Lazarus voting in favor.

The board suggested the permit holder pursue an accommodation (for example, a fixed opaque window) to address the neighbor's privacy concerns. Because the board denied jurisdiction, no appeal on that jurisdictional claim may be filed with the Board of Appeals on this matter.

The board’s written order denying jurisdiction includes the formal finding that the request was untimely and that no city error was shown.