A plan to transform a six-bedroom house into a one-bedroom bachelor pad complete with its own indoor basketball court has upset at least a few neighbors on a cul de sac in the Glen Park neighborhood, and they're hoping to rally some objections at a Planning Commission meeting next week.
A tipster writes to SFist about the project at 43 Everson Street, a single-family home which according to Zillow sold back in November 2015 for $2.35 million.
One neighbor who identifies himself as Dave (Planning documents identify him as resident David Cowfer), who lives next door at 49 Everson, has filed a request for discretionary review and has put together this website to voice his objections to the proposed overhaul of the house, which he says is being done by "a Silicon Valley billionaire who lives at 2 Everson Street, at the end of the cul-de-sac." And it sounds as though the project is already deep into the construction phase, having already received approval to renovate the interior last year.
The plans for the home, which can be seen in full here, call for a new modern exterior for the one story that faces Everson Street, and what appears to be a total gut of the two floors below, turning part of the house into a two-level basketball half-court with a glass, roll-up garage door opening onto the backyard. The only bedroom in the house, on the middle floor, would overlook the basketball court.
Cowfer's objections are primarily about the basketball court and the proposed extension of the rear portion of the house, not yet approved by Planning, which will be visible from homes on the hillside below it, and he says it "will always be a bright eyesore at night and when the roll up door is opened it will be a LOUD & BRIGHT eyesore."
Cowfer says he recently remodeled his own house and "I'm not against any and all additions," but, he says, "I do object to the size and the manner in which this project has been pursued." He's hoping that the design can change to put the basketball court deeper in the building, or that the glass roll-up door can be changed to something else.
Meanwhile, the Planning Department has recommended that the alterations to the rear of the house be approved, and the discretionary review be rejected. Previously, it was determined that because the project does not significantly increase the floor area of the existing house, it is exempt from environmental review.
The department's Residential Design Team (RDT) further looked at the proposed design after the discretionary review request was filed last October, and they "did not find any exceptional or extraordinary circumstances with regard to the loss of privacy, midblock open space, or neighborhood character" posed by the plans. They recommend approving the project as is, and "Considering the slope, side yards, setbacks and size of the existing building, the RDT found that the scale and massing of the Project would not be disruptive to the surrounding neighborhood and the mid-block open space and that any reduction in privacy would be within tolerances expected in a dense urban environment."
Cowfer clearly disagrees because of the potential use of the basketball court, and declares, "A good deal of [this neighborhood's] tranquillity is about to be ripped out from under our feet" if the project moves forward as-is. Cowfer and anyone who agrees with him, including the tipster who sent us the link to his site and who also lives in the neighborhood, are hoping to have their objections heard at the hearing on April 6.
See the complete packet on the project, and the discretionary review request, if you're interested, here.
Update: Curbed tracked down the owner of the project in question at 43 Everson, and identifies him as Paypal billionaire Keith Rabois, who says he's not aware of any objections to his property improvements except for Cowfer's. And, he says, the home will actually have three bedrooms, and the basketball court is more of "a media room (multi purpose) that will include one basketball net only."