DO YOU WANT A LOUD AND BRIGHTLY LIT BASKETBALL COURT IN
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AT 43 EVERSON STREET?
My name is Dave and I have lived for more than eleven years in my home at 49 Everson Street. I really like the neighborhood and having lived in other parts of San Francisco I can appreciate the relative calm and beauty of the surrounding blocks.
A good deal of that tranquillity is about to be ripped out from under our feet.
A Silicon Valley billionaire who lives at 2 Everson Street, at the end of the cul-de-sac, has purchased a second house, 43 Everson, four doors away on the very same street and plans to convert a six-bedroom family home into a one bedroom party pad. This private rec center in a residentialneighborhood comes complete with a basketball court, locker room, wet bar, sauna, lounge, a gymnasium, a 800 square foot roof deck and a swimming pool. Our ambitious neighbor is trying to turn the street into a private compound. Furthermore, he is not the only billionaire on the street with big dreams and bigger construction projects. This is still a residential neighborhood made up of families. The two billionaires point to each others' projects as a way to justify their own.
The basketball court is planned with a two-story, 40-foot wide glass roll up garage door on the south wall facing all the homes below on Addison and Bemis Streets and will be visible from Miguel and Mission Streets. This will always be a bright eyesore at night and when the roll up door is opened it will be a LOUD & BRIGHT eyesore. Neighbors are organized to oppose this because they are concerned about the noise, lights and privacy issues that result from such a large addition that converts a home into a private rec center. Most of the house has been removed, over 2/3's of what existed previously!
Several attempts have been made to request a modification of the plans that would address the neighbor's concerns but the sponsor has steadfastly refused even the slightest concession. For nine months we could not even find out who was doing all the work. Imagine our surprise to discover finally that is in fact a neighbor on our street! I'm not against any and all additions and recently remodeled my own home. I do object to the size and the manner in which this project has been pursued.
I'm left with no choice but to take this issue before the SF Planning Commission for a Discretionary Review hearing and I'm asking for your support. In the other pages of this website you can see the plans for yourself. More importantly I've set up easy ways for you to weigh in with your thoughts.
THE STORY
43 Everson - A Home Destroyed
How Close is the Proposed Basketball Court to Your Home?
I respectfully ask that the Planning Department and Planning Commission:
● Approve the basketball court with all the following modifications to address the neighborhood concerns regarding noise and light pollution:
○ Relocate the basketball court to a more interior location, i.e. tucked deeper into the hillside to minimize the impact
○ Reduce the extent of south wall glazing and replace with more soundproof materials
○ Reduce the size of the window/door articulation that opens on the exterior, south wall of the basketball
○ Require noise abatement through solid walls and proper use of sound absorbent materials and methods
● Employ setbacks and articulations to reduce the massing of the very large rear addition
● Approve a roof deck on any extension that does not extend more than 10' from exterior south wall
I appreciate the work of the Commission and as neighbors we seek to work towards accommodating not only the rights of the sponsor to enjoy his property rights but also the rights of the many neighboring families. The benefit of one should not outweigh the interests of the rest of the neighborhood.
