if it was not up to compliance, it would have to come up to compliance. bucommissioner antonini: think e planning part of this, maybe you could answer that question? >> thank you, with the mayor's office on disability. you have stated the state law very accurately. the confusion that has occurred, especially in small businesses that do not have in-house counsel is the american disabilities act, title 3, imposes an ongoing bertin, with your doing renovations or not. there is an ongoing burden to make access improvements that are readily achievable. readily achievable is a fairly low standard. there is no precise definition, but it means you can do this without hurting your bottom line too much. so when small businesses have

moved in and they have made minor renovations and department of building inspection did not require access improvements, they thought they were done. they thought they were fine. but if they had been there five years or 10 years or 20 years and they had profits, they have been doing well over any of that time, they had under 8ada obligations to make improvements in access. one of the highlights of the legislation is the landlord has an equal obligation to make those improvements with the same standard, readily achievable. this legislation is helping to make a little more transparent those obligations, and that is why -- and that liability when you are in business. commissioner antonini: i think

that answers my question. part of the language, it says requiring landlords leasing to small businesses to bring these entrances and compliance. it seems if fairly broad reaching because it does not talk about all of the state laws that he spoke about, it talks about the economic feasibility, so i assume that as part of the legislation. it cannot be an undue burden on both the tenant and landlord because it may be a big improvement, it could be a big burden on the owner of the building also. >> absolutely, and undue burden is not the standard. undue burden is a fairly high standard that applies to government and state entities, for example. here, it is readily achievable. the catch is that it is readily achievable every year. so if you had a year of very good profits, you are on the hook for having done that even if right now you reinvested

those profits in a different way and you cannot have a lot of liquidity. that is why so many of these lawsuits can be successful. so there is a great deal of ignorance about the obligations under the ada. certainly when it first came into effect, there was a lot of publicity and a lot of places knew then what to do. especially the last four, five years, a small-business owner starting out, there is not enough information now. commissioner antonini: thank you. my only concern is the first clause of the legislation will be dealt with by the board of supervisors, presumably, requiring commercial landlords. you are right, under the law, they are already required to some degree to do that, but i want to make sure we are not passing legislation that provides opportunity for further litigation by those who are interested in sometimes for

predatory reasons picking on small businesses. >> yes, and those are very good points, that we cannot require something beyond -- we cannot require anything beyond what the deal requires, but in terms of what the 88 requires, -- what the ata requires, there would not be that requirement is the landlord did not have the money that they would meet the readily achievable standard. that would allow the landlord to pass the cost off to the tenant, of course, which is one of the concerns of small businesses. and there are several conversations still to be had about this legislation as it is going through the board of supervisors process to try to make this more clear for everyone. commissioner antonini: okay, thank you for your comments, and i would also ask that the

supervisor's office convey my questions and those of any other members of the commission to president chiu as to concerns about parts of this and making sure that we're working in the best interests of both the landlords and tenants and also, of course, disability access. >> to echo what susan said, and i neglected to thank her earlier, she has been a great partner on this legislation. the most basic way i understand it, this legislation does not go beyond state and federal requirements. we're just trying to make it more transparent, clear, the process, and these are sections of the legislation not in the planning code. but as the director said, we

will continue to communicate on that issue. we have had a number of meetings in the office with folks who are interested in that aspect of the legislation, and we're happy to bring you into that as we move forward with that. commissioner antonini: okay, thank you, appreciate it. commissioner sugaya: i am fully in support of the legislation, but as long as we're talking about it, one of the things that i think comes to mind that -- it has nothing to do with the legislation, but i am going to talk about it anyway, the equivalent facilitation. i think sometimes there needs to be more done in terms of how alternatives can be used to meet the requirements of access. one of my pet peeves is when you

have sloping sites and you require modification to the sidewalk, for example, as one way to gain entry to a retail front, one of the issues that comes up with me is than you are working to sidewalks and it is more than the 12-1 in resulting slow. you have a public sidewalk undulating up and down, especially downtown, at ratios that exceeded 12: 1, by far, just to get access into the building. it seems to me in those kinds of situations, there could be something a little more creative to be able to walk out of those buildings. just a little pet peeve of mine. i am not against entering the building, you know, on a level surface of 12-one, but sometimes it affects the public realm,

too, in a negative way. secretary avery: commissioners, on the motion for approval -- [roll-call vote] secretary avery: thank you, commissioners, that motion passed unanimously. commissioners, you wore on item number seven, case 2010.0256, fisherman's wharf public realm plan. this is an informational presentation. >> good afternoon, i am with this the design group. pleasure to be here today to get you up to speed on what we have been doing with fisherman's wharf. we will give the presentation, and i want to make the point that it is one of the more important elements of the work that we are doing in the public

realm and the planning department. the better streets plan, the streetscape plan, the market street redesign, broadway redesign, the master plan, the beloved pavement to parks program, and the work that we're doing on the cesar chavez. there is more to come. i think that you will see today that the fisherman's wharf public realm plan that it is particularly a wonderful example of collaboration between the planning department and its sister agencies, what the fishermen not worth benefit district, with the fisherman's wharf community itself, the sister agencies in the state, and others who have been involved in this. we are excited to bring that to date. it is a remarkable coming together, i think, for the vision of fisherman's wharf. neal has done a wonderful job bringing all of these folks

together. i wanted to take a quick minute to introduce a frederick, back here. he joined us three months. yes from copenhagen. he is on a work study. -- he is from copenhagen. he is on a work study. with that, we will give the overview of the fisherman's wharf public realm plan, and available for questions if you have them, thank you. >> commissioners, thank you very much. before i begin, this has been a truly collaborative process within the city agencies, and i would like to thank nicklaus, who was the lead designer for this, and the planning department as well as all of our sister agencies, mta, dpw, mod, and of course the port, and we have got an ongoing funding from san francisco.

i think we have a unique public/private partnership that i hope will be a model for future work. what is the public realm plan for fisherman's wharf? there are five basic components -- that jefferson street redesign, the street skate redesigns, the design guidelines for new development to come into the area, public open space plan, and parking and the circulation plan. in addition, there are two other small minor adjustments. we have benefited in this process, piggybacking on the work done by the committee benefit district. we were able to move quickly through vision in an towards manifestation of these visions. this reflects the plan by all the committee stakeholders in the area. the engagement process was

extremely important at fisherman's wharf. anyone who has any interest in the history realize this is as a difficult area to raggle with over the past 50 years. there have bed that over a dozen plants attempted and failed. it is an area rich in history, which also means there are a lot of families with deep roots that have a stake in the area. bringing all of those parties to the table required engagement process that really required -- i actually moved down to fisherman's wharf about a year. just talk over their concerns and ideas. there are numerous challenges. the number one destination in san francisco, upwards of 12 million visitors per year, extremely important destination for the tourist industry, but also for sansome systems. a lot of sentences and go down

to fisherman's wharf as well. -- a lot of san francisco residents go down to fisherman's wharf as well. i would like to highlight the identity. you get down to fisherman's wharf, where is it? frank, who is the fourth generation commercial fishermen in the area, he has a boat, the lovely martha, that his great- grandfather built, that he is passing on to his son. he stands down at the harbor and he has people coming up to him and ask, where is fisherman's wharf. there is a lot of work to be done to strengthen the sense of identity of fisherman's wharf. the public realm suffers from a disconnected spaces, and it is hard to know where you or encouraged to be and invited to

be. the walking commissions, especially off jefferson, are particularly pork and not reflective of many of the conditions of the conditions that we strive for in san francisco. part of that has to do with plan architecture at one moment in history, not the 1960's and 1970's, and can be typified as to turning back onto the street and not really activating the sidewalk in a way that we strive for in a city-positive way. there are a number of tremendous destinations immediately adjacent to fisherman's wharf. you would never know that north beach is only five, 10-minute walk from fisherman's wharf. there are tremendous strengths and opportunities. there is no other spot in san francisco where you have the historic fishing fleet that is still an active commission. still an active fishing fleet.

you can build on those connections through public realm of improvements and reached out and strengthen each destination by joining together. we have a diverse set of uses and attractions. there is more that needs to be done to expand that, to perhaps include destinations that san francisco residents would find appealing. we have a great base to work from. of course, on taylor street, there is a strong core that we all associate with the heart of fisherman's wharf. i will walk through five elements of the plan and give you a highlight of what is entailed. jefferson street came out as the number one issue for the committee, how do we reinvigorate, reinvent jefferson street.

we wanted to go out and find out how the space worked today. we went from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night on week days, weekends, counted every human being both of the streets, in the public spaces, recording age and gender, so we have a real breakdown of who is using fisherman's wharf right now. on saturday, the front of the harbor, that is jefferson street between jones and taylor, over 65,000 people per day walking down jefferson street. it is an incredible pedestrian destination. it is potentially eclipsed by pier 39. you get onto those to the -- you get out onto the pier, there are over 110 dozen people per day. what are the things that we want to work on on jefferson street?

we have to reorient the streets to address pedestrians first. the sidewalks are too narrow and there is no place for people to stop and engaged in the life around them. similarly, the conditions have to be improved. over 400,000 bikes are arrested along the north waterfront every year. it is an increasingly important mode of transport. this section is important to the bay trail, which is why it is the number one priority. despite being less than a block off the waterfront, the connections to the water are weak or absent altogether. if you have not seen the connection to it cockatrice, it is truly beautiful and unique to the city.

it is a 1950's model of how we construct street, it is one way, two lanes, and the bicyclist try to go the opposite way, and it is dangerous and difficult. these are issues we need to address and prioritize. we have made drawings to represent the core ideas to convey what it would feel like if we were to switch and we prioritize for pedestrians. this is the gateway, running west. this is the walk next to argonaut hotel on the north side. and finally, this is a view from

jones, looking back east toward the taylor street restaurants, towards the lagoon. the goals are simple and straightforward and a think easy to get behind. the strength in a street and make it a national destination and a destination for the future that all people from san francisco will be proud of. it will create an iconic street that we can all relate to. it will certainly address safety through slowing down everyone. comfortable, safe space for bikes. this is certainly important as the america's cup comes down the pike, maintaining vehicle access, and allowing for future flexibility. who knows what the future has in

store for fisherman's wharf. the design has evolved. we have a team led by the planning department, not supported by the community benefit district. we have a consultant on tap to help as a senior design adviser. we're working with dpw, the port, and bay trail to come up with a new design. it is in process. as soon as we are at a point where we can share that, i would be happy to do so. the goal is to be ready on a timeline and on budget that is out able to be implemented in time for america's cup 2013. quickly, over the next chapters, streetscape guidelines. they're based on the better streets plan. we have taken better streets policies and adopted the designs and applied it to every street in fisherman's wharf. it is the basis for future

streetscape work, it is a reminder that we only focus on the sidewalk and intersections and parking lanes. there is no change to the roadway proposed with these designs, and it is opportunistic. as opportunities come up, as other work is being done, it will be changed to meet these design guidelines. as an example, to the street which connects the cable car down to restaurant row would be able to have many more amenities for pedestrians, crosswalks, expanding into the parking lane where appropriate, lighting, and landscaping. the building design guidelines for new development critical to supporting the pedestrian life as we would like to see in fisherman's wharf. the challenges, the surface parking lots.

buildings that turned their back to the street and did not engage and activate it on the ground floor is too little to contribute to the street, and the use of cheap, poor quality materials. at all of these will be addressed in the design guidelines. it will include ensuring that buildings are oriented towards the street and scaled to the pedestrians, supporting at the side walked on the ground-floor retail on key streets, the use of high-quality materials, minimizing the negative effects of parking on vehicle access on the streets, and integrating more seating to the new development and provisions to make sure that private open space is high quality. public open space. a critical component for any neighborhood that is based on

pedestrian movement. our goal is to expand the open space network. they will do that by expanding existing open spaces, strengthening connections between open spaces, and we have proposed one or to open spaces for the area. the new list leads with the jefferson street, columbus plaza, and aquatic park plaza, which what you are seeing here is the terminus of jefferson street to the aquatic park. it is immediate adjacent to the most import swimming beach in all of san francisco and the opportunity to make that into a real date way -- a real gateway is tremendous. columbus plaza, one of the most iconic streets in san francisco, one of our two diagonal streets, cutting across the grid, firmly rooted with the transamerica building.

how we find an architectural solution? a much more elegant way that is prominent in the city. what we are proposing is a design that partially or completely connects the sidewalk cafes and restaurants that line that block to the open space, but activating a space that has had in the past issues with less activation and inappropriate uses, especially in the evenings, and create a new destination for fisherman's wharf. aquatic park plaza. again, a tremendous opportunity. the key issue here is working with the swim clubs to proceed on a timeline to make sure that we address their needs in a timely way, and most of that has to do with access and parking. we believe that is an easy solution. finally, parking and circulation. we have to tame how we move

through fisherman's wharf. this is an image of a parking lot on jefferson street, one of the current entrances. one of the goals -- we conducted a study that estimated upwards of 30% of the number of cars on the street were simply circling, looking for parking. we could reduce the volume of cars on jefferson street rapidly and easily by getting people to the parking garages on the streets and into on the environment. that is part of the plan. there is also opportunity even on a peak saturday in july, there are a number of parking lots that are very underutilized. it is a matter of access and information and bring that information to the users as they approach fisherman's wharf to better utilize existing parking spaces, of which there are over

6000 off-street parking spaces and about 1200 on-street. so there are over 7000 parking spaces in roughly a 15-block area. the plant on the compact disc goes into more detail, but basically it is a sign its program that direct people to key locations to the nearest and most available parking structures, surface parking lots. signage plans for pedestrians and cars. pricing, we noticed, is not always geared towards short-term users of fisherman's wharf. a lot of flat rate, which does not encourage turnover. a lot of it is cash only. there will be an ongoing effort for many years to start to

address this. we have raised it as a policy issue for the plan. it will take a lot of negotiation with the committed to advance. -- what the community to advance. finally, the request from the community, requesting a prohibition of adult entertainment uses similar to what exists in jackson square up the street, and in line with the policy changes across san francisco where the ground floor adds to be pedestrian experience, we are asking for an additional 5 feet that could only be used on the ground floor, 1 foot additional for every 5 feet on the ground, for a maximum of 5 feet. the next epps, we're working feverishly to get jefferson street ready to go to document construction at dtw, and move rapidly through the implementation process including

the identification of final funding. in the spring of 2012, come back and bring zoning and design guidelines for further consideration. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. i would like to open it up for public comment, and then we may have questions from staff. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner antonini? commissioner antonini: i had a question about the jefferson street plans, which i think look very good, but there is probably going to be hopefully an extension of the line that goes into fort mason and merrida green that i am sure that you are taking a dip for the consideration as to figure out which way you were going to either eliminate or direct traffic on jefferson, the fact that that line will probably continue along jefferson in the future.

>> we have been in very close coordination with the national park service with the informal review for the historic project with fort mason. we think it is a tremendous profit that will bring vitality to the city. at the same time, we are cognizant of making sure that any proposals to the extension are in the best interests of fisherman's wharf as well. we were working on a line that is actually with the national park service that maintains on turning up jones, then turning onto the beach. so the integrity of jefferson street the last two blocks remains intact, which has numerous benefits, including simplifying the relationship with bicyclist and people trying to cross the street and that crossing a transit right of way compared with a slow vehicle right of way. it is very different. also, it takes up 13 feet on a relatively narrow street.