A San Francisco couple in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco are facing a heavy fine after being told that their parking pad actually breaks code.
ABC 7 News reports that Judy and Ed Craine are being forced to park on the city’s steep streets now that they have been told by the city to stop parking on their driveway after 36 years using the pad. The city says, though, that the spot violates a code section banning vehicles in a setback in front of a house.
The code was enacted for aesthetic reasons, according to Dan Sider, the chief of the San Francisco Planning Department. Although it’s okay to park in front of a garage, it’s a violation to park in front of a house even if the car doesn’t block a driveway so that “front yards don’t turn into parking lots,” Sider told ABC 7 News.
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Sider said the city sent the Craines and two of their neighbors an email about the violation following an anonymous tip. Unfortunately for the couple, if they’re found to be using the spot again, they will be fined $1,542 plus another $250 a day for every additional day their car is on the car pad, much to their chagrin.
“Why are you taking away something that has great utility?” said Ed Craine. “To all of a sudden to be told you can’t use something that we could use for years. It’s, it’s startling. Inexplicable.”
Fortunately, there is a glimmer of hope. The Craines were told that their car pad could be grandfathered in if they could find a photo of the spot being used historically. The couple were happy to oblige and sent the Planning Department a photo of theirs from 34 years ago with their car in the lot. Frustratingly, though, this was deemed not to be old enough.
“I recognize that the property owner is frustrated. I think I would feel the same way in their situation,” said Sider. “But the Planning Code doesn’t allow for the city to grandfather illegal uses on account of their having flown below the radar for a length of time.”
So it was up to the Craines to find an even older photo of their home with a car or a horse-drawn buggy in the driveway, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“I did a number of online searches,” said Ed. “Our house and our neighbor’s house had empty fields all around.”
Finally, they found an aerial photo of their neighborhood from 1938 showing what Ed and Judy felt was clearly a vehicle pulling into their driveway. It being from more than 80 years ago, though, it was blurry.
“I don’t know what else they would be,” he said. “To me, it’s pretty compelling that that was a car pulling in or out of the parking pad.”
Once again, though, the Craines were frustrated and the city said that the photo was too blurry to be definitive and that this did not constitute clear evidence. So they still have to park their car on the steep streets.
“I had to use my head to keep the trunk open while getting out groceries,” Judy said. “The onus is on us to prove we’re innocent… though I don’t feel guilty.”
At the very least, the Craines aren’t being charged with the penalties after they removed their vehicle from the pad. And if they can’t find the picture they need, they do also have the option of building a carport or garage, though that doesn’t exactly sound like a money-saving option.
