>> i will remind all of us to turn of cell phones or electronic devices. you are on item 11, amendments to the san francisco planning code to include financial services in the definition of formula retail. >> good afternoon. i will defer to supervisor mar. supervisor mar: thank you for listening to me today. i appreciate the thoughtfulness. it has been a very engaging process so it is valuable for me to come here. my name is eric mar, i represent the richmond district and i am proud to be working with a coalition of small business and neighborhood advocates to

present this ordinance before you. i wanted to say that our ordinance is a product of coal -- a coalition. some of us worked on the campaign in 2006 and it was my assumption that banks and financial institutions should be part of formula retail and in many ways, this is bringing that about now, six years after the fact in some ways. thank you for this opportunity. this ordinance amends section 7.3 -- 70 3.3, including financial service within the categories of uses which are subject to the formula retail controls and require a conditional use permit. i feel that it is a straightforward but important ordinance. it brings financial services under the same requirements that voters in 2006 passed, proposition g. as you are aware, banks and formula retail or banks and

other financial institutions do not fall within the definition of a formula retail, according to the planning staff. this brings financial services within the definition, making banks, cdit unions, and savings and loans that have 11 or more branches subject to the conditional use rmentequire it is not a ban and allows financial institutions to move into areas where the community supportive. th-- is supportive. financial services would be captured by the ban. it is prone neighborhood and pro-business. intends to give neighborhoods a greater say in the weight that commercial corridors are developed and adds protection to small businesses and we have a number of small business folks in the audience. it allows good planning which i

know you appreciate. and allows the planning commission and staff to assess whether a proposed bank, savings and loan, or credit union is necessarily desirable -- necessary or desirable in the committee and whether there is an over-concentration of banks. this was supported by the small business community -- commission. also very happy my co-sponsor of the ordinance is christina olague, one of your former colleagues and supervisor of district 5. i wanted to add i appreciate the planning staff analysis, there will be recommending service retail be eliminated from the use of -- list of uses included in the definition because it creates too much ambiguity and confusion. i would like to argue that i am interested like you are in the staff -- and the staff are in including former lead

definitions. and what to do that in a well considered and -- i want to do that in a well considered manner. there may be concerns raised about uninnded consequences of that broad approach and i ask the commission not adopt that modification and allow for more community input and a rigorous analysis of how we can fix the parts of the code which i support. i wanted to say that my colleague and supervisor scott wiener from district 8 is asking for consideration of a different approach, allowing conditional use requirement on all financial services, rather than having them labeled as formula retail. i do not think that is wise. part of the reason is it will be unfair and an undue burden on smaller financial institutions, savings and loan or the credit unions or other smaller ones. and i want to support more diversity among small businesses and smaller credit unions.

i feel that my colleague's approach is too broad and would impact smaller institutions. i want to thank you for your consideration. mike co-sponsor is supervisor -- my co-sponsor is supervisor olague. we want to support this ordinance. i appreciate your attention and would hope you would support this measure. thank you so much. commissioner wu: thank you, supervisor mar. >> this legislation would add financial services to the definition of a formula retail in articles 7 and 8. retailing includes uses such as restaurants, bars, liquor stores, general retailers, and game arcades.

financial-services includes banking services and products to the product -- public. when occupying more than 15 linear feet of frontage or 200 square feet of gross floor area. the department is recommending approval of the proposed legislation because formula retail controls were primarily adopted to maintain the unique visual character of these neighborhoods, commercial districts. financial-services typically have standardized -- a standardized look and signage that could override the neighborhood if there is an overconcentration. they also blaclack visually interesting store fronts. it can negatively impact the street life and vitality. staff is proposing one modification as supervisor mar mentioned, that would be to remove the broad category of sales and service retail from

the code language for formula retail. 6 -- sales and service is a broad category and non-specific. several uses are called out in the services retail category. the department considers those that are called that under the product category -- broader category to be considered retail. this would not change the way the department interprets this code but it will remove language that has confused -- caused confusion. i am done and available for questions. commissioner wu: thank you. we can take public comment on this item. i have a number of cards. as i call your name, you can come up to the mike.>> good aft, commissioners. as a member of the small business commission, we voted in support of this legislation.

we want to urge you to support it also. we have not had time to review the change that is proposed by the planning department about removing sales and services. we would like to have time to review that and weigh in on that and we are asking you to remove that one portion today so we can carry it out and more -- have more conversation. thank you. commissioner wu: thank you. kraska afternoon. i am -- good afternoon. i am co-president of the business association. we have spoken with the planning commission and stated our position on this matter a couple of times. last time being a year ago or

last year when we were discussing the issue of chase moving into divisadero. we had the merchant association who thought the banks were already in the formula retail ban because of the retail and service component. that aside, we wanted to restate that it is crucial to preserve and protect our small business community to add financial institutions in the former -- and the formula retail band. we are opposed to having the retail component removed from the wordage and would appreciate for the discussion. i wanted to reiterate how important the small-business community is on the vibrancy of the city. i moved into the neighborhood in 1990 when hayes valley was lumped under the western addition and was at that time pretty much one of the worst

neighborhoods in the whole entire city. we in the small business community have taken hayes valley from the worst to the best ever heard in the city and we have done that because the neighborhood is unique, small businesses, sold proprietorships for the most part. -- sole proprietorships for the most part. that is what the city should be about. the area shoppers come to our neighborhood because they're not confronted with starbucks and banks on every corner. it is not necessary. global travelers come to our neighborhood because they are shopping in a very unique and undeniably vibrant neighborhood, only small business and it is important maintain that. thank you so much. commissioner wu: thank you. laurence? and tess wellborn and catherine

petrin. >> i am the manager of the mattress co. and i am on the board of the hayes valley labour association. -- never association -- neighborhood association. we do urge you to approve this, we echo what russell just said. hayes valley has transformed itself over the last two years, largely through sole proprietorships and any businesses. not only with the hayes valley be threatened visually and esthetically by the addition of financial institutions, but in

addition, these institutions, when they come into neighborhoods frequently cause commercial rents to rise in the neighborhood which is also threatening to the individual and unique character of the we very much urge you to support this measure for us. thank you. commissioner wu: next speaker. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i own true sake or i have been doing business for almost a decade, quite proud of that. i'm here to speak to you today about everywhereville. it is anywhere and everywhere. we see it in the bay area and we see a more and more in seven

francisco. same names, same store fronts, same looks. the homogenization of san francisco is almost complete. it is refreshing when customers come to the store and say, hayes valley is really unique, it is different. i ask, what do you mean? and they say something is all about it. when did not having chain stores in your community become awed or different or refreshing? we have an abundance. i would have you seriously consider conceptualizing the financial services storefront as the anchors of everywhereville. they are strictly on line with the coffee shops and starbucks and walgreens. consider having the anchors be introduced in the definition. thank you. commissioner wu: tess wellborn? >> good afternoon,

commissioners. i am with the haight ashbury neighborhood council. your definition of financial institution should be broader than banks, savings and loans, and credit unions. there is much more amalgamation going on in the financial industry and things are getting bored. i would prefer you to have a broader definition. -- things are getting blurred. financial institutions wreck the local and national economy and demanded bailouts. the privatized profits and what the profit to -- the public to pay the bill. visito-- they want the public ty the bill. visitors do not need more change or starbucks. residents want local, diverse businesses and business districts. they do not want identical strip malls from area to area. we want to have small business

owners, as many as we can live in san francisco pay taxes and spend their money and their time here. they did not shift their profits out of town. -- do not ship their profits out of town. i would say keep the sales and service language in there for now until we see some good reason. we need to have broader categories of financial institutions in formula retail. thank you. commissioner wu: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. speaking on behalf of the telegraph hill dwellers. one of san francisco's oldest and largest. the dollar's support supervisor mar's 0-- dwellers support supervisor mar's definition and the amendment that would be an

unnecessary appeal. in north beach and telegraph hill, neighborhood groups and merchants have worked together for many years to protect the character of our community that makes it a special place to live in and visit. the formula retail law has kept our neighborhood and others across the city from turning into a cookie cutter chain store outlets. there is no reason that financial services and they should not play by the same formula retail rules that other retail stores must abide by. making the law clearly apply to them would close the loophole and protect small businesses and the character of our neighborhoods. for the same reason, the proposed staff amended to delete an entire category of sales and services, other retail from the uses that are subject to formal recall -- retail is a bad idea. -- formula retail is a bad idea.

i have comments in a letter that i will leave here. commissioner wu: jim marshall and our next speaker. >> i am a hayes valley resident in fault with the hayes valley neighborhood association. -- involved with the hayes valley neighborhood association. i am strongly supporting eric mar's amendment and the clarification that it provides. we thank him tremendously for making this clarification. our history from statements by supervisors gonzales and -- and others that were instrumental. this should never have come up. at this point, it is not to go backwards.

we have that clarification in front of you and we strongly support it. for the same reason i reject removing sales and services under retail, that should remain in it at this point. it needs considerably more vetting before anything is taken out. the wiener alternative is not acceptable. i think supervisors mar and olague infor bringing this. thank you. -- thank supervisors mar and olague for bringing this. >> i am here to speak in favor of the legislation. financial institutions can be an

amended t -- an amenity but when they began to dominate it causes problems. one is the loss of character. a lot of the formula retail uses in banks is one of them. they bring with them some of the flaws that suburban uses tend to have, they tend to be automobile oriented and they are -- they have the standard delivery, to be viewed driving down the road at 50 or 60 miles an hour. it tends to be huge, not pedestrian scale. often they are dead on the ground level. they keep limited hours. evenings and weekends are generally closed. if you have a domination of them in your commercial district, it can make it sort of deserted at night. this measure would not say no financial institutions ever. if it is a