Last Thursday, residents fighting the 673-675 44th Avenue development attended the Planning Commission hearing about the case.
About twelve residents spoke to the Commission about their concerns. The resident that requested the discretionary review had five minutes to speak, other attendees were given three minutes.
The current owner of 673-675 44th Avenue also attended the hearing but did not speak.
One testimonial came from architectural historian Vincent Marsh. Marsh was hired privately by the concerned residents to examine the case and testify on their behalf.
Despite the historical arguments that were made at the meeting and previously submitted to the Planning Commission about the property and neighborhood, one attendee felt that “it seemed to be ignored” and was not hopeful about the decision from the Commission going their way.
The resident went on to tell me that one commissioner seemed to like the new proposal for the 44th Avenue property, and further hinted he would vote for the demolition quickly because the property was being neglected.
This is a growing issue in the city – owners awaiting decisions on their developments let properties deteriorate or remain vacant, which in turns spurs the city to approve their plans and put a stop to the property neglect.
In one case of a historic cottage in Russian Hill that was facing similar development protests from neighbors, Debra Walker, a member of the Building Inspection Commission, said it appeared that the “owners had willfully neglected the building in order to circumvent routine restrictions and obtain an emergency demolition order”.
While the 44th Avenue property is not unsafe and does have one of its two units occupied, the house clearly needs work compared to its neighbors, the landscaping is all but dead, and old newspapers litter the front walk. Fortunately for the developer, his similar tactic of property neglect may have swayed at least one commissioner to approve their building plans.
The Board of Supervisors is also concerned about the issue of property neglect. In August of this year, Supervisor David Chiu introduced legislation aimed at avoiding similar situations to that of the Russian Hill cottage by requiring owners of vacant properties to register them with the city, pay a fee and keep them clean and secure.
Ultimately, the case for 673-675 44th Avenue was granted a one-week continuance due to a clerical error. Under planning department procedures, they are required to provide all hearing documents to the concerned parties prior to the event in a timely manner to allow them to prepare. The neighbors did not receive the latest case paperwork until just before Thursday’s hearing.
On a related note to this story, Gary Gee, the same architect who submitted the plans for 673-675 44th Avenue, currently has another character-breaking building under construction at 25th Avenue and Balboa. This new building is truly ugly, looks cheaply built, and is in a contemporary style that is nothing like its neighboring properties.
Let’s hope we don’t see the same kind of architectural eyesore get built on 44th Avenue.
Sarah B.
Another character-breaking building at 25th Avenue and Balboa
designed by the same architect, Gary Gee, that submitted plans for 673-675 44th Ave
Gary Gee is also the same architect that designed 77 Van Ness and is currently in the process of raping another building at 6th and Geary, just north of KFC. While the building at 77 Van Ness looks like, that building at 25th and Balboa doesn’t look like the rest of the neighborhood. Then again, what about the 2-unit apartments that were built in the 80s?
ha! I grew up in the richmond and love it to death but you can’t complain about someone actually putting a clean and respectful building up on 25th. It is extremely more successful and appealing than the many tasteless new builds in the area. So many of these newer constructions wish to replicate the older style of the neighborhood but manage to create a mix that is not representative or respectful of the past, don’t appeal to a more modern taste, and don’t create a look anyone actually wishes to replicate. So basically I was happy to see the 25th ave building.
Also some may disagree with me but most of the richmond is rather hideous at the street level. It is the insides of these buildings that should be treasured so why are we all up in arms about knocking down buildings and making them modern but not worried about preserving the many beautiful old interiors?
Ssarah, thanks so much for reporting on this issue. The previous post was obviously written by Gary Gee or the developer. To say that most homes in the Richmond are hideous just proves that. Demolishing homes – historic ones at that – shows absolutely no respect for San Francisco history nor Richmond District neighbors. Stay out of our neighborhood and stop building these ridiculously oversized behemoths.