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Board denies permit for Sixth Street project, says neighborhood notice required
Summary
Owners Max Chen and his wife sought reversal of a denial for a permit at 2955 Sixth Street to legalize rooms and add a horizontal addition. Planning staff said a prior variance expired and the required Planning Code §3.11 neighborhood notice had not been issued. The board denied the appeal but waived the one-year reapplication bar so the applicant may reapply with §3.11 notice; vote 4–0.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on June 29 denied an appeal by Max Chen seeking to overturn Planning/DBI disapproval of a permit for 2955 Sixth Street.
Chen told the board he purchased the property in October 2009 believing it to be a single-family dwelling and sought to merge units after completing an Ellis Act process to remove tenants. Planning staff recounted a complex history: a variance decision in February 2007 included a three-year effective period and that variance and the subsequent permit had lapsed; since the planning code has changed, different approaches to legalization now exist, but in this instance Planning said the required neighborhood notice under Planning Code §3.11 had not been issued when the permit was disapproved.
The board denied Chen’s appeal on the narrow ground that the project requires the §3.11 neighborhood notice; the board clarified that changed circumstances (new owner, tenants vacated) mean the applicant will not be barred by the usual one-year reapplication rule and may reapply promptly to trigger the §3.11 process. The motion to deny the appeal passed 4–0. Planning staff and the board noted that neighbors may still appeal any future issuance of a permit following §3.11 notice.
