>> you are now on item number 16, 1737 post st. >> good evening, the item before you is a request for a discretionary review involving the vacant commercial space previously occupied by retail stores in two a small self- service restaurant. located within the interior of the contested west mall in the zoning district. the case was continued from the

december a planning commission hearing and i will provide you with a brief summary of the case. the request was for the of learning center. it appears to qualify as form of retail use, requiring conditional use authorization. the proposed restaurant is consistent with the purpose and the japan town special use district. it specializes in selling beverages, snacks, and desserts. it contributes to an over concentration of small quick food outlets that currently exist. as far as updates provided to the planning department staff,

the project sponsor's proposal menu, the supplemental information in regard to the project sponsor's affiliation for consideration, if you have any questions, i am available. president miguel: d.r. request er? >> my name is robert, i am speaking on behalf of the request. at the last hearing, the primary issue of concern was whether the proposed cafe would be located on the corner of the mall. it was a disguised form of a

retail operation associated with the chain. in response to questions from this commission, about connections, if any, the applicant repeatedly denied that he had any connection with them except it would be one of the vendors of the products he would be utilizing in his business. he was unequivocal that it was his only connection and it was no organizational connection. we have provided documentation from city records and the secretary of state that show that these representations to our community and to this commission are not true. the city and state records show that he is the founder and director and officer of liu and associates, inc. which is htthe

owner of the corporation. it is the address for the japan center, specifically the unit that he proposes to insert this cafe. these documents show that he cafe is tied closely to the chain and that his representation in this regard was false. with this connection established, and the other aspects of this proposal fall into place. as this commission will recall, it was scratched out and handwritten then. the substantial similarity in

the key elements of the grass- roots associated, particularly the tapioca balls that identify what the establishment is associated with. nothing about this proposal from the start has been on the up and up. the original permits for some of the work that has been done has never been obtained. there has been no communication to speak of with the community. and now we have the documentation and the representations' about the ownership and nature of this project as representative of this commission. as we argued before, you know

that the japan town community has been engaged in a process to ensure the authentic character of the community of's heritage. we are generally opposed to a formula retail with a few exceptions, and the proposal being drafted, we believe that the cafe adds nothing to the authenticity of the community, it is duplicative of services already present in japan's center. it provides improper competitive advantage because of the relationship with kobe bento. the project permit should be

denied, thank you very much. president miguel: any speakers in support of the d.r. requester? >> and good evening, commissioners. i am the director of programs and community affairs. i will keep this short period based on the evidence provided in your packet, the link being 75% partner, being the owner currently here in the city, this makes it pretty clear that the cafe could really just be kobe bento in disguise. i don't mind the new business in japan town, i think that good business is great. it is something we need for the future, but by using the less

deceptive nature, excuse me. using deceptive measures is not my idea of good business. it doesn't set a good precedent for japan town or the city. there are and goals of the time. it supports that fabric instead of working against its. i would like to know that new businesses moving into japan town would have the community's best interested in mind instead of finding ways to avoid its. i strongly support the discretionary review. president miguel: thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners adnd director. i'm a member of the japantown planning organizing committee. i would ask the commission to support the planning process. we really have looked seriously at the kinds of businesses that we think will support japan town and contribute to the long- term prosperity and continuation. when we were in the process, one of the things that happened is -- one of the restrictions was on formula retail because of the nature of formula retail or you can out compete source product and really drive our small businesses out of competition.

and we need to maintain the small business space. we lost one of our centennial businesses, 100-year-old japanese market that, because of the nature of the small family business, founded more and more difficult to compete with chains tores -- stores. that is the nature of what we are trying to fight. in this case, we are very distressed that this business did not try to make links to the community, that they did things under the table, proceeding with the drilling through the floor of the building into the garage without getting permits. and now we find that they have misrepresented themselves blatantly, not only to us, but to this commission. i don't think this is a good

basis for coming to japan town. i hope you will deny the application. >> [unintelligible] speaking about this issue, clearly this permit is a violation of the special use district. we have had other vendors in the special use district such as starbucks on the night because of the unfair competition that they would have.

i know that what happened at the pharmacy business, it just couldn't compete against the chains. the are not here today because they fear that the owner might retaliate against them if they did. i urge you to please support the district and denied a permit. -- deny the permit. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners.

i have been sticking it out with you since 12:30 and you have been doing a great job. issues the my colleagues have brought up, we have been working on the plan for quite a long time. we are almost there, and in addition to some of the details that we mentioned, the last planning commission meeting, we were talking about menus. we brought copies of the menu, bento boxes, and they are pricey. they have a lot of specials and things. when you look eddies prices, very low and affordable. when you have specials like a 99 cent specials on this, a special deal on a chicken pox, it is all in here. the regular restaurant people,

they don't charge these prices. they go out of business. it is quite an adverse affect on those businesses. in addition, if you go a couple blocks down, there is already a tapioca business there. i really think that you should support the d.r. president miguel: are there additional speakers in support? if not, project sponsor? >> good evening, commissioners. i'm the owner of the project.

commissioners, i don't have big corporations or organizations behind me. with my limited english skills, please forgive me if i -- i tried to explain my cases clear as possible. please feel free to stop me any time if you don't understand. i have also provided copies for review. today is my second time attending this public hearing and i would like to thank the commissioners for giving me this opportunity for the business concept. i found it [unintelligible] my family and i have the business in chinatown. they also have a facebook page

as evidence to show we are a formula retail establishment. they also took parts of my speech and tried to make me look like this evil person. please allow me to clarify these issues. [unintelligible] it will make all of these other businesses become formula retail as well. there is a very clear definition of what is considered a form of retail and it has nothing to do

with ownership. it has nothing to do with the background and it has nothing to do with the facebook page. it has nothing to do with property management. if someone tries to accuse my new business that it is going to be formula retail, please provide evidence based on the formula retail ordinance. additional terms should be added and they should bring it to the board of supervisors instead of the planning commission to discuss. i want to bring a live example. i have a good friend who is the founder and ceo of a nationwide yogurt venture. in san francisco, it started a business concept, and now, he's expanded to six stores

already along witha nother -- with another store. on irving street. since it has 11 locations in the united states, they are not considered a formula retail establishments. the english is such -- it has never been treated as a formula retail establishments. my company is owned by me, not by anyone else. i also have a business with a wholesale relationship, and i believe it has this effect. keep using this logic to accuse my new business logic.

my new business logo is not similar at all. it is just a job. i have never gotten any approval. it is never published. mentioning quickly, the truth is quickly -- highly respected commissioners, today i am here to apply for a change of use permit. it is not related to any of my other businesses. i hope that my business will be able to expand to four miller retail.

president miguel: thank you. your time is up. speakers in favor of the project sponsor? >> a good friend of mine, [unintelligible] and also due to limited investment.