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The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will once again hear the appeal of an administrative use permit on Thursday that would allow construction at a single-family residential building at 2008 Virginia St. 

Applicant Lorin Hill of Oakland had requested the permit to construct a 1,434-square-foot addition, raising the existing structure approximately six feet to create habitable space on the ground level, and expanding the footprint of the building to create a two-story west wing. 

A group of neighbors have appealed the permit, saying they are concerned that the additional height will block air and light. On Jan. 25, ZAB members had asked the applicant to put up story poles at the site of the building so that ZAB and neighbors could get a better visual representation of the project. 

Staff reported that during this process the applicant had modified the proposed project in a way that could satisfy the neighbors’ concerns. 

Staff recommends denying the appeal and upholding the zoning officer’s decision to approve the project with minor modifications. 

Other items 

• ZAB will once again hear the appeal of an application for an administrative use permit for 933 Keeler Ave. Applicant Ken Winfield of Berkeley was denied a permit for construction of a second story atop an existing one-story detached garage, set back five feet from the property line abutting the street and two feet from the property line to the north, with an average height of 24 feet and a maximum height of 26 feet. 

At the April 17 ZAB meeting, board members set the item for public hearing. The site, at the corner of Keeler Avenue and Forest Lane, one block west of Grizzly Peak and one block south of Marin, is in a neighborhood of mostly single-family homes ranging from one to three stories. 

The zoning officer denied the permit on the grounds of the project’s inconsistency with the neighborhood and the height of the proposed building. Winfield has appealed, but staff recommends denying the appeal and upholding the decision to deny the project. 

• Aran Kaufer of San Francisco will request a use permit modification to allow modification to the ground floor plan and to modify the inclusionary housing for the project at 2700 San Pablo Ave. Staff recommends approval. 

•Sunny Grewal of Studio G+S Architects will request a use permit to remove an existing, detached garage, construct an attached garage and expand the floor area of an existing four-unit building at 1300 Monterey Ave. Staff recommends approval.