[OldNorth] 630 F Street
Dan Quickert
dequickert at omsoft.com
Thu Dec 18 09:30:39 PST 2003
The Planning Commission turned down the 630 F Street application last
night, by a 3-2 vote.
Primary reasons for the denial were the project's scale and profile for the
site (shading, privacy, viewscape). Commission members stated that the
increased Floor Area Ratio requested (52% vs 40% guideline) was
inappropriate **with the current design**. They said that the project would
have been more acceptable if the same floor area was configured differently
- for example, one-story or with one of the stories below ground.
The Commission denied the application 'without prejudice', which means the
applicant can come back with a revised plan. And of course the decision
can be appealed to the City Council.
The neighbors to the project's north came and spoke, as did Peter Gunther
and myself.
The neighbors spoke of the impact the project would have on their use and
enjoyment of their backyard, on the lack of sunshine in their house in
winter months. Peter and I spoke about the issue of the intent of the
'neighborhood guidelines' height limit for accessory structures vs second
units (the loophole); the small-scale character of the neighborhood; the
small lot sizes; cumulative effects of piecemeal losses of viewscape and
open space; etc.
One very good comment and positive suggestion by commissioner Donna Hunt:
those who are getting a benefit from a projected use, should bear the costs
of that use. Thus the negative effects of a project should be kept on site
as much as possible.
In this case, the negative impact is crowding or loss of openness. This
can be kept on-site by making the structure 1-story, which will take up
more backyard space (onsite) rather than sky-space (offsite). (that's my
paraphrase of it, not her actual words)(actually this whole line of
reasoning is something I spoke about in front of the Commission on a
different project)
Dan Quickert
More information about the oldnorth
mailing list