Two San Francisco homeowners were recognized after submitting the same kind of building-code problem to the city’s “dumbest law” contest, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Katherine Roberts and Mike Nohr were commended Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting as winners of the contest created by Supervisor Alan Wong. Both entries focused on San Francisco’s unusually restrictive ceiling height rules.
Roberts has rented out two basement units in her Edwardian home in Cole Valley for over 20 years. She’s also been trying to legalize them for about as long. The problem is not whether the units exist, but whether their ceiling heights satisfy San Francisco’s local code.
Under the California Residential Code, habitable spaces such as bedrooms must generally have ceiling heights of at least 7 feet. Roberts’ two studio units meet that standard, according to the Chronicle. However, San Francisco requires a local minimum of at least 7 feet, 6 inches because of how the city merged different building-code standards into one local system…