item #34990 valencia's street is a request for use to allow for the establishment of an outdoor activity in the rear of the property for an existing restaurant that is doing business as the blue favoig in e zoning district. following any public comments, which would automatically removed them from the consent calendar, this matter is in your hands for consideration. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, commissioner borden? commissioner borden: >> moved to approve the motion. [calling votes]

thank you, commissioners. the item has been approved as proposed. you are on item 4a, b, and c, 4601, dolores street. as you consider the request and a mandatory staff review, the zoning administrator will hear the request. >> good evening, commissioners. i have just been informed the neighbors would like a continuance of the matter. i am not sure if that has been brought to your attention at all. >> no. >> shall i continue?

>> yes. >> the request for additional use authorization of the planning code to convert a former church that is currently being used as a single-family dwelling into a private elementary school, which is currently operating to and a half blocks north. cbds would maintain both campuses for 200 students in grades five through grade eight. the project include interior and exterior tenant improvements. exterior includes converting our garage into a primary pedestrian entrance, adding a roof deck to the southwest corner, adding

associated screening, and adding an elevator penthouse along the eastern edge of the building. interior tenant improvements include new partitions and other support functions for the school. in 2003, the condition granted authorization to install three portable question -- portable classrooms on the existing site. at the recommendation of the board, the portable classrooms were authorized for our use not to exceed 10 years. this would provide more space for the school, allowing them to transition students out of the classroom and remove the buildings altogether from the site, in compliance with the 2003 conditions of approval. the department has received 50 letters and e-mails in support of the project, primarily from parents.

now the department has also received 21 letters in opposition to the project from neighbors. their concerns are about how activity could impact noise and privacy to adjacent property that shares the same space and the potential impact it could have on parking and traffic in the neighborhood, including 19 straigheet and parking that woue eliminated as a result. they would like to see the rooftop removed and the white stone moved to delores street frontage. it was submitted yesterday but seemed untimely. the department is recommending support of the project for the following reasons. the project promotes the reuse

of it difficult to building type. the project is for the continued operation of a neighborhood school. it would preserve the exterior and interior character. it would result in a dwelling unit that is not affordable for the residents. the project is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, and it will allow for additional choices and educational opportunities for neighborhood and city of residence. this concludes my presentation. >> project sponsor. >> thank you. i am the head of children's day school, and i want to thank the commissioners for what has been a very long day for you, and also the city staff and the other planners who have gotten to this point in the project. children's day school has been

looking for more space for a number of years, and the school did not want to put additional buildings. we are thrilled to be proposed this lovely church and return it to institutional use. independent schools make a wonderful custodians of these buildings and provide the highest and best use of space. the building is a very tight fit for our middle school program, but it meets our needs, and our students think the brick facade and chandeliers looks just like hogwarts. and it is wonderful to hear them speak about the building and see how it plays into their imagination. i think it is important that there is a strong neighborhood partnership and community-based learning program.

students work side by side with people from other nonprofits to better our communities. 40% of our students are on sliding commission. many of our students walk to school, and as the city tries to maintain families in san francisco, children's day school offers and nurturing environment, complete with a farm and garden. this will allow us to double the size of our middle school program and provide education to more of the families moving into the neighborhood. mark jensen will speak on behalf of our project. we are lucky to have them on our team. and he is an award winning architect.

mark design the fabulous roof garden space at the san francisco museum of modern art. goothe agricultural program is o important. markey and his team have been able to provide learning spaces for our middle school students while maintaining elements the city thought it was important to save. we have three middle school students who would like to say a few words about the project, so we will start with angelie. >> i am a current seventh grader, and i have the privilege of attending for the last eight years. it is such a unique and inspiring school and deserving of a learning environment that is equally stimulating. the move will allow twice the number of students to have the

experience i have been lucky to have and to learn in a building that is so beautiful and so inspirational. the move will put the future learning experience of the next generation of students in very good hands and will leave our remarkable legacy for the community and the city. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> i am occurrence 6 greater. i am the lucky beneficiary of a full tuition scholarship because of the partnership between the children's day school and the boys and girls club of san francisco. cds gives a scholarship to of boys or girls club member, and i cannot tell how thankful i am for this opportunity they have given me. they have shined a light on new possibilities for me and for other students like myself.

thank you for your time. >> your name and? >> maya? >> my name is sam fisher. this is my ninth year at cds. i highly support is being turned into a school. 90% of eighth graders graduating from our school have gone to their first choice high school, and the high schoolers tell us they really like our students. right now our middle school is only made of 88 students. cds will be graduating double the amount of students who will be academically per turn -- prepared to change people's lives for the better. we can change twice as many people's lives. i would like to invite mark jensen up to the podium.

>> that is a tough act to follow. my name is mark jensen, the architect. good evening, commissioners. we are here to discuss the conversion of a beautiful church from a private house to a school. it seems self-evident this is a higher and better use for this beautiful building. the question is how we accomplices in the most thoughtful and sensitive way possible. to start with, the exterior facades along dolores and 19th, the sanctuary space, the tower, and the entry. our challenges is withing the classroom into this structure. that meant putting these rooms inside the outside walls but

outside the primary sanctuary space. in addition, our goal also included a seismic upgrade of the building to make the building fully accessible, to provide life-saving and code upgrades, and to provide a sustainable design approach. to address each of these, the upgrade involves bracing the existing grid wall. they are deep in their analysis for this project, and they have come up with the solution you see reflected in the plans before you, which preserves most of the interior surfaces with minimal intervention. making the building and not accessible involved all four levels. this elevator could not have been put up the facades of 19th

and the laura's. the leaves the south and east the side. we put it as far from the neighbor to the south as possible and close to the entry along 19th. the of grades involved two new exit stairs, or one inside the existing tower and one of the opposite of the building adjacent to the entry. we have worked to pursue a very sustainable, natural ventilation and heating solution. and the direct result is we will not need to put air handlers on the roof. finally, what will the project

look like when it is complete? mostly like today. the only change is the replacement of an existing garage door with a new entry door and the rooftop building, and we are proposing a rooftop garden. the penthouse will come through the roof, and there will be a mechanical room for the boilers. we have heard some concerns from some of the neighbors, and we have tried to address them. we have heard concerns about noise, height, and facilities. i already mentioned the boilers will not have the noise we usually associate with rooftop units. we also decided to put this in a fully enclosed structure. previously we just had a screen. they can be fully enclosed.

we have lowered the stare in the elevator room to the minimum possible face on the equipment that is going in there. from the standpoint of proximity, we moved the mechanical units -- the mechanical unit away from the elevator. i want to emphasize we have been working for a close to a year with a group of consultants who have a very thoughtful and sensitive response to code issues. it is important to get all the details right, but the bigger picture and the reason we are here today, this is a wonderful opportunity to get a new life to a beautiful and building. occupancy and youth will benefit the building, the students, the

neighborhood, and the city as a whole. thank you very much. >> thank you. by fellow, i am on behalf of children's day school. there are other issues that have been raised. i will not raise those, but you may be hearing something about that. cds has been a sensitive neighbor for a long time. it is the reason why different neighborhood organizations have supported this move.

we have heard comments from an adjacent neighborhood. i was concerned about his view being blocked, and we did everything we could to move that further away, and you have just heard about where that was. we are also moving those elements into a structure, so we believe we have addressed the issue as well as we can. you will also hear concerns about the white zone. we have very little control over that period.

the school has had considerable experience moving children, and we are confident the system in place will satisfy the neighbors, and we will deal with any issues with regard to the pickup and drop off issues. good eveninwe do not anticipatey problems at all. some of these issues have been expanded, and you might hear other comments about the historic nature of the ruleoof. i think the only way you can see that is if you are flying over it.

for a think it is not something worth mentioning, and i would also point out some one mason just because it is ia school, it cannot be supported seismically without significant amount, and it would destroy historic features. there is no way we are going to do that, and if anything occurred to the, it would have to come back to this commission. this provides quality education to students so their families can stay in san francisco and be

an asset to the community. that is why so many people support it. i urge you to approve a conditional use to reject taking the loss of conditional units, and finally, to approve. right there is no further testimony. and we are trying to keep it short because of how late it is, and i would like to ask those in support suzanne. -- to stand. there are a few people who are not her parents, so we are trying to limit it.

i have a bunch of speaker cards. i will call them, and if you find yourself repeating, feel free to, what ever. [list of names ] is the podium is free, and work your way to the podium. >> good evening, commissioners. i was driving down. ibarra was talking to the lawyer about what issues are. i want to give you a little history.

in 1930 california experienced two major earthquakes. the state banned her buildings in 1930 because four schools collapsed. the required all public schools to be retrofitted. gooa created a special structurl engineering license, which i have. until 1980, the state retrofited all the public schools. in 1985 the state decided to go after the privately owned rental buildings, because we all know how hazardous they were a. they collapsed, so they require these to be retrofitted.

in 1986, the state to another action, which said, when you are retrofitting a private school, you must provide the same level of safety to the kids in a public school, and that level has been well-defined by the building department, and by me, because i wrote the sanction -- i wrote a section that affiant's what must be done. -- who finds -- definies what must be done. i was in asking for permission to tear it down -- pair it down.

i said how improper it was to put kids in a brick building. what it requires is you have to build a complete new steel frame inside this building or a concrete frame, so what we end up with is a good year, -- a veneer. you do not but dominion and nitric buildings. we did you do not put this on a brick buildings. the only thing left in this building will bee veneer.

thank you very much. >> i am an attorney, and i am representing two homeowners next door. i would like to bring to the attention of the board that i did request a cequa appeal, and i requested it based on the facts that this is presented as categorical exemption your your -- exemption. i submit that people will be installed in a building that has approved use of single family home. it suggests we need to look at ceqa. we need to analyze the environmental impact of this

proposed use, the categorical exemption is not appropriate, and that pursuant to this package for approval, the historical report indicates this is a historical building. historical buildings are considered a historical research and aren't accepted, not allowed. i submit a project sponsor has not submitted necessary information to appropriately analyze the entire project. assuming they did, we still do not understand pursuant to an analysis that the noise affects,

the water affects, and the air affects, and the quality has not been analyzed. i suggest we ask the project sponsor and confirm what kind of noise is going to be generated, based on the roof, which i believe is a significant affect on the exterior of the property. there is extensive exterior remodel on the roof, and i suggest the staff had an opportunity to fully analyze. thank you, commissioners. >> good evening. i am a parent of a child in the middle school, and i am here to

speak to you tonight as a neighbor and a member of the community. i live just around the corner of the church, and i have been living there 20 years. it has not always been that way. there have been a lot of changes over the next couple decades. the proposal to use his church, ich has been vacant for years, having them come in and use the facilities would be a good

change for this neighborhood. i think these years will be unfounded thank you very much. good >> i will ask the next speaker to come up, and i will call some names. [list of names] if you are ready, next speaker.