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Board revokes variance for Cole Street roof deck and exterior stairs, citing insufficient findings
Summary
After neighbor objections about privacy and intensification, the Board of Appeals voted 4-1 to revoke a Planning Commission variance that had allowed a roof deck and exterior egress stairs at 751-753 Cole Street, finding the five variance criteria were not met and that life-safety egress could be achieved internally.
The Board of Appeals overturned a Planning Commission variance that had allowed a roof deck and an exterior stair egress at 751-753 Cole Street, voting 4-1 to revoke the variance and to find that the required variance findings were not demonstrated.
Neighbor Julie McSweeney presented photos and testimony saying the exterior staircase and roof deck would turn a small garden and open space into a "jungle-gym-like" structure that would intrude on her backyard and the Cole Valley neighborhood character. She offered an alternate interior-stair plan prepared by her architect.
Property owners Christopher and Lawrence Morales and their designer said the exterior stair provides a second means of egress and that the roof deck would create usable open space where the rear yard is mostly concrete. Staff noted several factors: the lot is short (80 feet deep), the roof deck is accessed through attic/storage area, and a forthcoming change in the building code (effective Jan. 2008) would eliminate some of the state'required second-egress triggers for small-family dwellings. Chief Building Inspector Lawrence Kornfield confirmed the new code approach and that, until the code change, the stairs were voluntarily proposed.
After discussion about precedent, intensification of a nonconforming structure and whether safety needs could be satisfied by interior alterations, the board concluded the five required variance findings had not been met and that life safety could be handled internally. The motion to revoke the variance passed 4-1 (Vice President Garcia, Commissioners Albright, Holland and Fung Aye; President Knox No).
