tv [untitled] October 14, 2010 9:30pm-10:00pm PST
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partially below street level and three floors on top. it has no rooftop deck or penthouse or rear garden. it is located across the street from the harvey milk recreational center and davey's medical to the south. none of the structures, including the hospital within three story garage north and south towers and physician's offices raise issues or cast shadows on the residential neighbors like those projected to impact lloyd street. however, i believe thoughtful urban planning and effect of design modifications and spatial awareness can mitigate these concerns, embrace diversity in architect tchur and preserve the neighborhood's unique identity. i urge you to give so the r-thought to a long-term solution that we could all get
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behind. please take discretionary review and limit the height of this proposal to three stories. thank you. >> good evening. my name is janice mitchell. i lived at 49 scott street. for 13 of the 23 years i have ianed 49 scott street, i lived with an architect who frequently spoke to san francisco's very tough requirements to make design changes because the city was determined to preserve the world famous and unique beauty of its neighborhoods. now -- knowing lloyd street, i understand the narrow empty lot that was a lovely neighborhood garden filled with trees is about to be dried by a massive ugly monstrousity far taller than the rest of the neighborhood with no concern for the irreparable damage it'll do
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to the style and the victorian beauty of that rare and lovely block. the one block narrow lloyd community will lose its cohesive character, dozens will lose their privacy with windows peering into their bedrooms and gardens, including mine where i sit on my small deck enjoying the sun. i will lose hours of sunlight because of the absurd height of the building. my garden will be destroyed. my enjoyment of my deck will be ruined. this is not the mistake of someone constructing the terrible building to live in and join our community. it is built by two outsiders only interested in selling and making a bundle quickly with no regard for the destruction to the neighborhood. the -- because the lot is narrow, the plan to go a minimum of one floor too high plus build an overly large roof penthouse that will be an eyesore visible from multiple vantage points in
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the city. it will stick out like an ugly sore thumb. our neighborhood has attracted numerous tour buses driving down scott street many times a day, a great source of tourism revenue for the city. this tall burning like edifice which pays for heed to beauty will greatly detract from our old and unique neighborhood. i intensely oppose the city's condoning the erection of this investment property. i'm shocked and dismayed that those given the power to decide what may be constructed in a city would even consider such a blight to the character of the area, we all love so much. i can't help but ask myself why city officials would allow so many individual homes and apartments suffer and lose what is so special about living here. al huing this grievous error permission to be built cannot but help me -- help me question those i long trusted to preserve
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what is great about san francisco. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen, my name is andy nathan. i appreciate your time. i know it is late. i know that sometimes this gets boring too. but -- the people that it is for the boring to are the people that have -- have dedicated the weeks and the months of their lives meeting on a weekly basis to discuss the issues that affect their neighborhood, the issues that affect their families and the issues that affect lloyd street. i have to tell you i find myself somewhat of an impartial member because i have just been the houseguest for the last six months of living with those that
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live on lloyd street. i vacationed in san francisco many times. i'm an architecture student. i really appreciate their neighborhood. i also have to say i'm the son of a contractor. i appreciate development. i think the people of the neighborhood also appreciate development. they feel like development should be in its proper standard. and -- i don't think in in my discussions with -- with anyone in that neighborhood, they have argueded that someone should not build on that piece of property. i think their question is what -- what should be built on that piece of property. i think it is challenging for people who have gardens and homes, who have families to -- to to look at that piece of land and look at it, and -- their minds to be -- to be something that could potentially debt
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represent what they have worked so hard for to -- to work for, to build, and the neabd is -- is what it is. i believe in -- in development. i believe if everything that they -- they are striving for, but i think all they're asking for is there's some consideration in -- into what is being built there. that's it. i appreciate your time. and -- and i hope that you consider their efforts. >> good evening. my name is kenth carrie katterland. i live at 51 lloyd street, two buildings just uphill from the proposed project.
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i actually prepared a little more notes but given the time i will speak for myself and my partner so we'll have one less speaker. here, you could see the current view from our kitchen window, this is the only window in our property, that doesn't look either at a street, or street -- straight into the windows of our neighbors. what you could see below is what -- that window will look out at if the project is proposed as built. one place in our home that has privacy, will no longer have any privacy whatsoever. this is extraordinary and exceptional. this also demonstrate that is even though there are two lots downhill from us on a 24% grade, you drop bigger -- you're going almost as high as our building if not higher. that's atrocious.
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the other two items i passed out, i won't put on screen at the moment show you how the plans submitted with the notice are inaccurate. i can't from those plans decide whether -- whether what they're doing is going to work or not. it doesn't show the penthouse, it doesn't show any of this above the roof line above the building next door to us. fortunately mr. volcker when he was putting together models was able to produce this for me, so i could see what is actually going on. this is not a concern to me or to my partner, or the land lady who is in europe to the neighbors in the building who have in the been able to be here tonight because of other reasons. but it is just a manger impact on the entire neighborhood. i request that you take this -- take this discretionary review that you remove the fourth floor, that you possibly remove the roof deck. i realize my neighbors accept that, roof decks aren't fes ces
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or -- or frequent in this area, while the planner in their reports to you said, roof decks are accepted in different neighborhoods in san francisco. that may be true because, but in this neighborhood, they're not. in this neighborhood. this -- this lot -- this neighborhood has historic context, the first gay person to be named to the board of supervisors lived in the house immediately north -- to the -- to the -- to the courts of san francisco. judge doonaledson lived in the house above this. he was instrumental in the 1960's that -- that -- that new year's eve that you may know about where a fight occurred. he wases thrown into jail and his career was -- was challenged by this. there's historic context here that is not referenced in the e.i.r. document. i would ask you to take discretionary review and lower the building and consider the
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neighborhood's and its contents. >> there are additional speakers that say -- favor the dish d.r.? >> i live behind the proposed project in a hot a couple of lots removed from it, i opened the building for 39 years. my only previous experience with -- with planning and construction was when i -- i realized my -- my little landing out in my -- my back door on second floor needed some repair, had to replace floor boards. and the railing and some stair treads. in the process, i thought it would be an opportunity to expand the -- the width of the little landing enough to put a chair in.
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i added 14 inches to it. but i didn't take into consideration the impact that little -- that addition would have on my neighbor who -- protested. for the next 18 months, i was producing drawings, detailing exactly the extent of the addition i had put on. and also a set of traugs showing the -- the original dimensions. and presented those to the neighbors and went through the processes of getting approval for what i had done. the approval was not permitted. since i hadn't really considered the impact that little work might have on my neighbors, so i i -- i sended unhaving it -- to -- to, dismantle the workly done and recon struct according to the original dimensions.
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which presented an impact on my neighbors, many of whom are here. i think -- i think it convinced me the hard way of the importance of being considerate of what -- of what impact we might have by -- by new construction. i think in the -- in the current case of the -- of the enormous project on lloyd street, which -- which we have heard from a number of people have quite an impact, now i walk down to my garden and have a -- a good deal less view of the sky and the beautiful gardens and -- neighboring me. when i'm down there, the extent of sky and -- and greenery that i see would be greatly impacted
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by the addition of this enormous structure. so i -- i hope that the commission gives similar consideration to the case at hand. thank you so much. >> my name is michael, together request my wife rose who is here, we owned and lived in six lid street for the last 18-plus years. we raised two girls there. it was a home built in 1894 as a wedding gift to the -- to the daughter of the owner of the corner property on scott street. we're very proud of it. we had spent $45,000 trying to do a historically appropriate restoration of the exterior alone. there's a tremendous amount of pride in our neighborhood and i define our neighborhood as lloyd
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street. it is very close, tight-knit community there. and i -- i think the importance of slope on lloyd street is -- is pronounced because both right above on castro and below on scott what you have are -- essentially level streets. and so, i think we are -- we are conceding that we're maybe a little bit gentler than elizabeth, but -- it is a 24 degree slope. i see no principled way of distinguishing this issue from the issue before you on that block. the massing of this project at 50 feet is -- is completely out of context and exceptional circumstance that does warrant the discretionary review consideration for all of the same reasons. i also appear before you today to indicatenie concern about
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process here. we have an e.i.r. that said no more than 40. you heard about the -- about the 311 notice issues. as i understand it, the record is that it was september the 8th that the first rendering showing this -- this 50-foot penthouse was submitted to the mapping department which approved the project the next day. we have a developer who has been through -- as this commission knows, some very bruising projects. i know from my own profession as a trial lawyer how people involved in that can somehow be callous to process going forward. there has been too much fast and loose here. as mr. denuncio arctic hated well, it does appear there has been not just a hack of good faith in approaching this neighborhood but maybe a touch of vindictiveness in a way in which this has progressed. it raises very significant concerns and it is all regrettable, i believe it is all unnecessary.
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i have met with these people and meff once did i hear a neighbor say, we don't want anything built here. these people believe in infield and the importance of it as an urban planning as a moral proposition, this place is too big. we ask you to accept the request for d.r., remove that fourth floor on the penthouse and allow this play to be consistent with the rest of the neighborhood. thank you. >> good evening, president miguel and commissioners. representing the neighborhood network, sometime ago, a couple of months ago, i think it is now, the neighborhood network met with lloyd street neighbors, this is all very new to them. and they sdd us for some advice, and we gave some. prior to our meeting with em this, i went to see the site, it was -- i was really impressed
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but when i saw the proposed plans, i said to myself, these plans were produced without anyone even seeing the -- the lot. how could anyone design such a massive out of scale inconsiderate project that maximized the envelope. the project showed no respect for the victorian enclave, completely incompatible in your face. it is an insult to the neighborhood. at the very most this evening, i hope you will -- insist on the removal of the fourth floor and i would hope that the decks would go too. thank you. additional speakers in favor of the d.r. requesters? >> president miguel, the commissioners. >> thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak in front of
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it will rob the neighborhood. it will rob the character by mass and also by stein. i am directly affected by this building as you will see through these pictures. this is the view of my backyard right now. look through the light and to the sky. and this is -- what it will look like. so, i won't take a lot of your time. we know it is getting late. i'm a banker, i think it it can be made -- economically, financially, vital project with
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three-story building and which something, which all neighbors can live and be happy with. i constitution for -- thank you for your consideration. thank you. >> sue hester, i'm the attorney for the neighbors. i want to show you this shot which -- which shows the -- the breadth of support. every person here that is blue has sent a letter in the packet. so -- they're all numbers. this is the green space we're talking about. it is very unusual to have a large green space like this, in this & and it is 130 years old. i want to point that out. what you can't see on a nat overhead is the slope of the hill. this is an extremely narrow street, it is 29 feet. it is really narrow. it is one way and one block.
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this is been vista hill. the houses are built in to the hill. then you go to 1 scott street. every house on scott street is built into the hill, they look like a three-story building from scott street. the first story is a garage. you go up one level to get to the living level which is level with the backyard. this is the last document in the brief i submitted. this is the last development by this -- this development team on a flat on oakwood in the mission district. it looks the same. what is the difference between this project and the one you have before you and this is a flat site. in the mission district.
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this site on lloyd street is just the opposite. it is an extremely hilly site that has 1350-year-old character. no one is saying and -- i really ask my clients, what did you want, not one person has said we don't want something to be built on this site, even though it is a really important garden from them. they understand someone is going to build there. all they want is it to be scaled down. there are no four-story buildings on this block. this -- mr. -- the house is to the east. it looks tall. the footprint is 25 by 25 and it has a -- i don't know what you call those roof pitches. i'm not an architect, i have this big hole in my knowledge. it has these really steep pitches. according to the planning code, his height is 34 feet.
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not 40 feet three-quarters inch. 45 lloyd is low and long. the developer wants to have four stories and he should have three stories at the most. thank you. if not, project sponsor. >> good owning commissioners. todd mavis, project sponsor. i like the full disclosure to say i'm on the human rights commission. former san francisco city supervisor harvey milk once
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said, the american dream starts in the neighborhoods. he realized the importance of having strong, dive verse, well thought through neighborhoods. and -- this quote may seem familiar to you, because it is on the side of the harvey milk recreation center, which is half a block away from the proposed building. i see it every day daye almost, when i walk my two dogs, biso and chloe. what i like to make clear is this neighborhood is extremely important to us as well. we live here. we want to make sure that our new building is going to fit in well with the context of the neighborhood. we thought through this building extensively. it has met the planning code and the priority plan of the city and the historic review. there are no exceptional circumstances which warrant taking discretionary review. we made numerous changes and modifications to the building to make it compatible with the
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neighborhood. there are two pictures depicting the proposed new building. we set back the building six feet from the sidewalk. we raised the entry. we set back the forward rails that are on the fourth floor deck and roof deck three feet as requested. we notched the southeast corner of the building on the third and fourth floor in the back, five feet by 12 feet. we have also -- we have also -- made sure this the -- that the roof line of the building is compatible with the rest of the neighborhood and please remember that the -- the attorney for -- for the neighbors have also stipulated they're not against a contemporary style building if the neighborhood. i also like to point out that -- we have extensive neighborhood support, three neighborhood associations have said that they do not oppose our project. and the neighborhood association where this building is being
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proposed, the post triangle neighborhood association does not oppose our project. we have 159 people signing our petition of support for the building. and we have met with our neighbors to make sure that we tried to incorporate as many of their ideas as possible, 16 times over many months and i met with 62 people. this building is compatible with the neighborhood. the building directly next door is a 40-foot tall building. mr. dunn's building. it is surveyed by our surveyor, the building to the right of the proposed site is only two feet seven inches shorter than our proposed building. the fourth floor set back, 21 feet from the sidewalk. on lloyd street, there are -- there are two other four-story buildings on the corners here marked. there are also five other
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buildings that are 35 feet tall on lloyd street alone. i also like to point out that most of the buildings in a one block radius are -- radius are 40 feet or higher. this is in your packet and shows the pictures in a one block radius. i want to point out this is consistent with the residential design guidelines and the historic evaluation report. the reason we proposed a four-story building is to have two unit that is are family sized that have three bedrooms each. this fits as well with the housing element of san francisco and the priority policy 11.8 which supports taking full advantage of allowable density. i also like to point out that the lot is zoned for three units, however, we reduced the density to two units. this is perfect for families because it is close to public
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transportation and other amenities like parks. the proposed building is knot large. each unit is under 2,000 square feet each. and most of the d.r. applicants i would point out live in buildings that are larger than ours. if you look at the buildings on scott street are enormous. the building that is adjacent has a popout. the other buildings are larger but they're three stories. keep in mind that the mid block open space that yow see here is composed of five properties. one of which is ours. we maintain, the mid block open space where even else is basically making use of our lot for their own private garden. for all of these reasons, i urge you to please consider not taking the d.r. and approve the project as proposed. thank you.
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>> thank you for the opportunity to support the project. my name is javier. i'm not a native san franciscan but after 13 years, i feel like one. i live in a high-rise, i enjoy high-rise living and love knowing a lot of my neighbors. whf i hear of a new baby in the building, i'm both excited and saddened saddened because another neighbor will leave my building. in recon, we don't have -- don't have the amenities that a young family needs. typically in three years, they're gone. also my building has only 11 three bedroom units out of i believe 226, making raising a family difficult in my neighborhood. this project will give two neighborhood. this project will give two
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