the cell companies are choosing how many antennas they want to install and it is not up to the city. and they suggest what they want and that is what happens. this is an industrial commercial installation and people use the rooftops for entertainment or viewing the blue angels or fleet week or having barbeques in san francisco. it seems that the antenna companies feel that slapping a sign on the door to the roof that says you might be close to radiational levels is going to prevent people from being affected by these, but i don't believe that's the case. most fires are caused by cigarette butts and this building will have a battery belt around the stairwell

building as was pointed out. a lot of the batteries at least on two of them will be ignited from sparks and this is an issue with a commercial installation around people who do smoke and hang out on the roof and drink beer and smoke cigarettes. i think that is a problem. and right now i think it's significant to mention there is a permit for the 1663 grant antenna and this is only two black box away. [bell ringing] president olague: thank you. is there any additional public comment in support of the d.r. requester? >> i am mark leach and i live in long beach and i am here and have a cell phone. anybody who doesn't have a cell phone raise your hand?

>> are you hear to speak for the d.r. requester? it was a d.r. request and we're hearing from the d.r. requester at this time. >> that is the person who is opposed to the project. >> no, i am on -- president olague: i wasn't of that impression. is there any additional public comment for speaker who is support the discretionary review requester? seeing none, project sponsor. >> good afternoon, commissioners. here to speak on behalf of t-mobile and i wanted to show you a quick photograph if we could. this is taken from above grant avenue a little bit and the mock-up of the antenna is here and i don't know if you can see it among the existing rooftop and it blends pretty well, i think. and it is only one antenna and only 5 feet tall and a 10-inch full vent structure that is

designed specifically to blend with this kind of environment and we think it does that pretty well. it is really a minimalistic design that is the smallest design that we can do. and there isn't much we can do and we have made efforts to try to hide it in the full vent environment that will go in well with that existing environment you see there. regarding the coverage map, i think you will note in the coverage map that was submitted there is a pretty significant gap that is illustrated in those maps especially along the grant avenue corridor and this facility even though it is pretty small will do a great deal of work to improve and fill in the gaps. we set out the find the least intrusive means of filling the gap and identified only a few in the neighborhood and a couple of other higher preference sites and identified why those didn't quite seem feasible alternatives. i believe i have five minutes,

correct? >> yes, you were only given two. >> thank you. >> ultimately we chose this building because none of the other buildings were found to be any less intrusive in this proposal. the minimalist design represents our best effort to improve the coverage issue that exist in the area and this will result in exposure levels that are less than 1% of the public levels. and the project will not result in anything that you can consider exceptional or extraordinary. and in fact t design is similar to literally hundreds of other micro cell designs that have been approved by the city over 12 years and including one that other people have mentioned up the street at grant avenue. the 600 petitions and letters of support speak to the neighborhood's desire to improve the quality of communication coverage that is available to both residents, business owners, and visitors.

we respectfully request q the planning commission not take the d.r. given the lack of exceptional extraordinary circumstances and just a follow-up, they will speak about a couple of legal ramifications here today. thanks. >> paul albert, outside council and will just take a moment. and first, i want to ground you and remind you this is a d.r. request and we are look at one specific building permit and you are looking as to whether there are extraordinary or exceptional circumstances that require you to take you through your utmost restraint and take discretionary review to the building permit and staff said no and weld concur that there aren't the impacts to the community that require you to take the extraordinary step of discretionary review. we wrote a legal letter and i won't go through the legal and federal impacts of the decision and we did cover areas as need and intrusive means and so forth, but i want to focus you that that is not the subject before you today. this is the building permit and the discretionary review and you are not looking at the 303c

findings that would be required. finally, you made the ceqa exemption on the last microcell that went on to the board of supervisors and they upheld that ceqa appeal meaning this site similar to it should be exempt under ceqa and there are no cumulative effects or master plan effects that should be considered on the cell by cell basis and the planning department reached out the industry in terms of how to work bet we are the city and in response to the board president chiu's request and t-mobile looks forward to doing that and encourage you to focus on the one building permit and not take discretionary review. thank you very much. >> speakers in support of the project sponsor. [call i [calling speakers]

is there any public comment in support of project sponsor? i called all those names and people should be coming up to the mike. we do have a 5:00 time certain item and we are trying to get through this item. and if you get up, start speaking, please. >> hi. i am a native san francisco resident and born and raised and actually born in north beach. i am a real estate professional and i think it's very important that you put up as many cell towers as needed and as possible and whatnot just due to the fact that i am mobile all day long

and i have an iphone and i am constantly on text messages and text 2,000 messages a month and my assistant texts me back 4,000 and whatnot and i need the data plan and whatnot and so i just don't understand people who are opposed to this and putting it up where this is supposed to be so i get better reception. and being in north beach alone and whatnot and the financial district and whatnot, i know there's tons of working professionals in the particular area and i know for a fact they would be happy to know they have perfect reception when they need to make an emergency phone call or whatnot and just go and check and sur the web when i do need to. i am paying $200 a month and hope to have reception in that area i am doing business in or

browse at my own free will to internet or text is a choice that i hope i have when i am in the neighborhoods. i drive over 40,000 miles a year in my car and so i'm absolutely in favor of getting better reception and if this means a cell tower every two blocks or one block doesn't matter how many goes up and whatnot. it shouldn't be up to the neighbors in that particular building to say that, no, i don't want it here. if you don't want it here, put it up into the next building and whatnot. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. >> i have a restaurant in the city of san francisco and i am for this project because i believe san francisco is a world

class city and we need to have desce decent broadband coverage for everyone including the tourist and the business people that are happening in certain spots. we all have cell phones and i am pretty sure that 99% of people have cell phones and it is always a very, very discouraging thing when you have a service that drops a call. and so to be fair, everyone should have enough coverage to make sure that the business works well. and my customers depend on that and we like the one just talked about and text messaging is a way of life and my employees live somewhere there, too. i need to call them up and find out if they are able to work or so no one is having a home phone

and that becomes our home and i believe full coverage is essential. that will raise the quality of life and also raise the status of the city of san francisco as a world class city. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> i am darla bernard and i am a resident of san francisco and wholeheartedly support the cell phone tower. thank you. >> i am actually a broker and i do loans and those type of things which means i am always on my phone and driving and on the road. and with the laws being blue tooth and wires re, i want to prevent on being on the phone and have my calls accessible to

that and i find it very frustrating to pull over, park, and get on the phone to find out where i am going and what needs to be done. and in these condensed areas and homeowners as well to help them and get the right place in efficient and quality time. and i am representing for susan mcauliffe of north beach neighbors and president in support of it. thank you. >> i am a working mom pretty much full time and i have two daughters and this is seven months and another four years and goes to preschool and in the daytime my family members or my nanny picks up the other one and i have to talk all the time to make sure are the work okay, the babies okay and my daughter goes to tutu ballet in north beach

and also goes to preschool very close to north beach and there are times when i try to call home and see how it is going and there is no signal. it is really frustrating and rush home and speeding and the law against me and everything and with better coverage and in my life will be a lot easier and the timing is crucial. so with more antennas in my life will be a lot more efficient and really important to have signals for cell phones. by the way, i don't have a home phone, so cell phone is the thing that i need. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> i will be interpreting for her. >> translation?

>> i can't have both microphones working at the same time. so if she speaks and then you translate. [speaking in foreign language] >> i hope in the future we can get better for all my family and children and won't waste so much time for getting dropped calls i think. [speaking foreign language] >> i hope that you can get the antenna done as soon as possible. that's all. president olague: thank you. next speaker.

>> if you can ask her to speak into the mike a little bit more. and otherwise we won't be able to pick it up. >> i am li sue and i come because my son -- and

[speaking in foreign language]

>> i am at a friend's house and i get dropped calls and as soon as we get this antenna for us, i can call my friends and relatives without all the dropped calls. i hope we get this antenna installed as soon as possible. [speaking foreign language] president olague: she needs to speak into the mike.

>> i am a child care person and i take care all the kids in the morning and i hope that we can hurry up and get the phone lines fixed and the wireless fix sod that we can check on my kids and are they home and after they go home, we don't know if it's safe, and they have to keep calling everyone to make sure that everyone is safe so that it will make -- so she is actually just want to get the antenna as soon as possible. that is all. >> [speaking in foreign language]

>> i use my cell phone all the time in the chinatown area and i am in huge support of the cell phone antenna. that is all i got. >> good afternoon. i am regina and i live in north beach myself. and i can't really add too much more than what's been said. i think the restaurant owner, excuse me, expressed it very well and all i can say is we're in a world class city and you need to have access to people who need to get in touch with you and in orderer for us not to have dropped calls or in order for high speed on the laptop, you need to have these antennas installed and it is, i think, it's krushl and extremely

important -- i think it's crucial and extremely important and essential. we do need this. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> reset the clock. >> commissioners, i am a resident of the district three, although not in north beach. i publish a newsletter for the social media set, twitter, win tin, and facebook and this past week it was about microsoft buying skype which means they, one reason they want to do it to build enhanced messages into the microsoft phones for more connecttivety. i am urging you to deny the d.r. and look into the argument for this as carefully as i could. i couldn't find a reason to latch onto it and in terms of it being a lot of antennas, that is because we decided to have a lot of antennas and went with many, many, small with weak output and alternative plan could have been to build 12 towers across san

francisco in which case it would be, but we decided not to do that and the argument that there is a lot of towers is circular. yes, there are a lot of towers because we decided to have a lot of antennas. in terms of there is no comprehensive plan, i think, a., that remains to be determined. but b., the desire to have one sounds great and is in the very, very are early stages. i was at the board of supervisors meeting where it was discussed casually and one thing president chiu said was it sounds good, i don't know where the money would come from to do it was the comment he made. it may be something that sounds good, but when you get it into, you may learn that you have most of the information already or else things are changing so rapedly that it's not worth it. and -- things are changing so rapidly that it is not worth it. and we're going to do a study, but while doing a study, we will declare a moratorium on any new

antennas and that is page one news. that is no antennas and for an indefinite period of time we are staying where we are. i think that would be a real problem. thanks for listening. >> thank you. i don't know why we are having a meeting or hearing like this. i think that the installation should be automatic and shouldn't waste everybody's time when we need to or they need to install the antenna and we have to come to this kind of meeting and waste your time and waste our time. and hopefully in the future they will pass a law saying that they want to install the antenna and

just approve it and approve it automatically. and without any waste of time of everybody. and because studies have shown there's absolutely no health hazards to any of the antennas to the people in the area. so i am a big supporter of installation of more antennas or better cell phone signals. so i am glad to see all these supporters here. as a matter of fact, can i have all the supporters of the people who are in favor of the installation of antenna stand up? [meeking speaking in foreign language] okay. i see a lot of people behind me standing up and thank you, everybody. president olague: thank you. is there any additional public comment in support of the item or in support of the project

sponsor? >> in the interest of time, we're going to forego our additional comment. president olague: thank you. d.r. requester, you have two minutes of rebuttal time. >> thank you, commissioners. we're talking about an antenna proposed for a prominent location that makes this installation visible to residents and visitors in north beach and discussing an antenna within tloo two blocks and discussing a site that even according to zoning guidelines is not preferable and we are discussing the installation that according to t-mobile online coverage map is unnecessary. surely the commissioner cans see the disadvantage of this particular location for a cell phone antenna considering all of the other an the men antennas that have been approved in close proximity.

and san francisco is at the cutting edge of technology that we need overall something else planned. the supervisor chiu is looking to the planning commission to draft this plan for your guidance. but meanwhile, he has asked that conditional use authorization be required for all cell phone antennas and that is what we are asking you. thank you. president olague: thank you. project sponsor, you have two minutes. >> we very much appreciate your patience with respect to this application. as you know, you are not making the conditional use determination today but whether there are extraordinary or exceptional circumstances with respect to this building permit. as you know, this is the most minimalist design that can be provide bid the carrier -- that can be provided by the carriers and is 5 feet tall and 10 inches in diameter and two blocks is deemed to be a significant gap in san francisco and was said, these are low wattage,

microcells and the whole point is to have a multiplicity to provide the coverage and capacity that obviously the community needs and we encourage you not to accept discretionary review. thank you. president olague: thank you. public hearing is closed. commissioner sugaya. commissioner sugaya: yes, project sponsor, i have a question about the antenna itself. i assume the antenna is going to be capable of handling whatever your version of 4g is at the moment. i don't know if t-mobile is on that track and i assume that the antenna is capable of handling future technology in terms of whatever comes along. >> it will be, yes. and actually, we have a managing engineer for t-mobile and if you have anymore specific technical questions, he would be better to answer those for your review. commissioner sugaya: it is just a question i have because as the

multiplicity of antennas, i understand why that is necessary and why certain carriers have more than others. and there is the whole question of improving technology and now that we're into 4g and lt and all that business, i assume that the present locations are sufficient for at least a foreseeable future, is that right? >> yes. and at this point i think it would be a good idea to have our engineer comment on that -- >> that is okay. but we can be assured that that is right. >> the design and both the location and the design are as forward thinking we can be given the technology that exists now and where it is going. commissioner sugaya: okay. that is all i had. i don't find anything extraordinary and exceptional and am going to take d.r. and approve the project with the

equipment units that are sitting on the stair tower be screened in some fashion and design can be worked out with staff. i am not talking about the g.p.s. antenna, but the cabinets and other subpanels and equipment panels that are lined up a little lower on the stair tower. that is any motion. to screen it in some fashion. that is my motion. >> second. president olague: you understand the motion? you look confused. i'm sorry. >> my question is we're obviously happy to do that and find some screening solution. the question was, what is you preferred method? is it just painting it to match or do you want to put or build an extension of the pentous around it to disguise it? i am not sure -- commissioner sugaya: i think it's more than paint. it can be some kind of, i don't

know what i have in mind. but something to disguise and sort of -- >> what i am hearing is something physical that is in front of the -- in front of the panels so that they are screened from view. my assumption here is they don't need like the antenna and don't need to be free and open and are just panels and just electrical panels. >> there needs to be access to them, sure. and we're happy to work with the department to find a solution that is acceptable and some sort of visual screen, absolutely. commissioner sugaya: okay. president olague: thank you. commissioner antonini? commissioner antonini: i will probably be supportive as long as it's understood that they work with staff and this is a