>> could afternoon. this is the regular meeting of the san francisco planning commission for thursday, august 2, 2012. i would like to remind all of us to silence or turn off your cell phones. [roll-call] commissioner borden is absent today. the first item on your calendar are items her post for continuance. item number one is 2299 market

street. this item is proposed for indefinite continuance. item no. 8 on your calendar has received a number of requests for continuance. i have responded in writing to those who are asking for requests and i will ask you to take up the request for continuance at the call of the item. i will announce that i am a -- item #84100 and s avenue, there have been several requests for continuance of that item. -- item number 8 i am happy to announce for broadway has been withdrawn and the item is no longer before you for consideration.

however, item number 11b, the variance is still active. with that, i am not aware of any other items on the calendar being proposed for a continuance. president fong: is there any public comment on the item proposed for continuance? commissioners? commissioner wu: i move to continue item number one in definitely. commissioner antonini: second. >> on the motion for a continuance on item number one for an indefinite continuance -- [roll-call] that item is continued

indefinitely. let me make sure i have turned on your microphone. commissioners, you are now at commissioner matters. commissioner antonini: i would like to thank everyone who worked on my reappointment to the planning commission. we probably had a thousand e- mail's, voice messages and i'm very appreciative. i believe the swearing in for commission -- for the new commissioner and for myself will be on thursday, august 30 at the mayor's balcony i thought i would just announced that and welcome you to be there. particular task -- particular thanks to the supervisors who

voted in favor of my confirmation, particularly supervisors cohen and olague. my message continues to be i'm available to me with you in your constituents and i welcome your comments and positions on matters that come before us at the planning. i certainly want to take this into consideration when i deliberate on decisions. a couple of clarifications on some items in the press that i wanted to bring that. i thought the articles have been good and i appreciate the members of the press. they mentioned my being like a team quarterback and the team i am playing for is the city and

county of san francisco. over the 10 years, i have been able to articulate my issues clearly and distinctly. for those who may not want me to continue, that might be a reason the new commissioner might take the same boat as me bedmate take longer to make those positions known and that was the reference to the quarterback. there was another mention in the chronicle. i was honored to be compared to mitt romney and antonin scalia. i told the reporter i would be just as honored to be compared to president obama or justice stephen briar. we did not make all our elected officials, but we did make the

supreme court, judges and commissioners and others, appointed positions that are not subject to periodic votes of the electorate. that's important in a democracy but also has its downfalls because sometimes it keeps officials such as judges are commissioners from being completely objective in their vote or in the positions they take because they are subject to not only the feelings of their constituents but their contributors. it is important we keep the separation of powers and i think this is a key issue when you talk about comparisons to judges. finally, i'm very happy to report that when i go to work coming from the west side to my office, frequently when i'm not taking muni, i will drive, happy

there are eight projects under construction along that route. i'm glad to say that is the case. but we are actually seeing ground broken and projects going forward and that is very promising and very satisfying to see these projects moving forward. commissioner sugaya: i thought of that comment about swearing- in raises a good question. i thought swearing in was required. but we have mr. hillis here. commissioner antonini: i can clarify that.

there is always a legal swearing and and then there is a formal swearing-in. that is what i was speaking of -- the ceremonial swearing in. commissioner sugaya: i would like to welcome mr. hillis. we have had some previous encounters and i have always found him to be bright and generous and will serve the community very well. so welcome. welcome to the otr two commissioners to have been reappointed. >> commissioner hillis was sworn in this morning and is legally able to sit and take action today. commissioner wu: i believe for the record i will not be at the swearing in ceremony. i also want to congratulate commissioner antonini and

commissioner hillis. i got to have lunch with him and it was very nice. this friday is the 35th anniversary of the i hotel. 35 years ago, that was the night of the eviction and there will be a program starting at 6:00 tomorrow and it will go until 2:00 mimicking what happened that night when activists and tenants' rights, folks are from the city and region. that will go until 2:00 when there will be a march and a ceremony. commissioner sugaya: there is an excellent novel by a japanese

professor which -- it is a novel, not a historical account, but it has the hotel as its theme and the people who were associated with it. >> i also want to add my congratulations to the reappointment of didn't commissioners. commissioner hillis and i have worked on different projects along the waterfront and i believe his appointment will add to the existing commission. commissioner hillis: i would like to thank the mayor for appointing me. i have great respect for the department as well as many who have come before the commission so i am honored to be here. i also want to thank commissioner miguel. i worked with the city for 15

years and have had the honor to be before the commission and work with him and it's an honor to fill his seat. hopefully i can fill the seat, so thank you to him. commissioner antonini: i would like to take this opportunity to welcome commissioner hillis and i'm very happy is going to service commission and also like to acknowledge the former commissioner miguel. was a pleasure to serve with him. he brought a lot of knowledge and good things to the commission. on the question of swearing in and the city attorney can opine on this if i am misrepresenting it. i believe it do to legislation from a couple of years ago, there's a time where the mayor or president of the board must make their appointments after the conclusion of the existing

sitting commissioners. then the board of supervisors has a time at which they have to confirm that absent any confirmation the commissioners are deemed confirmed. the terms of the sitting commissioners extant until 60 days after the completion of their term. as long as the formal swearing in takes place, it can be any time and it is in compliance. correct me if that is not correct. >> i do not have the charter in front of me, but the important swearing-in is the one that occurred this morning. that is the legal swearing in.

any legal that is a ceremony. >> i can confirm that. commissioners have a four-year term and at the end of that for years, there is 60 days during which you can sit if you are not reappointed. i looked at this recently as well. you are correct that if the board does not act within three days, the appointment is automatically deemed it confirmed. >> you are correct. commissioners, we can move forward to the director's report and review of the fast -- review of the past week's events.

>> i would also like to congratulate the commissioners on their appointment. i have been able to work with rich for many years. hard to believe that has been five years but welcome on behalf of the department. if i might, i'm going to give the historic preservation report today. the preservation commission approved the construction on 850 battery st. which is a non- contributing building, it was one project at was the only certificate of appropriateness yesterday. the other items were informational hearings on the fire that occurred at pier 29. representatives of the court gave a presentation on that.

i believe that within the next several months. second, the commission continued its discussion to expand the administrative certificate of appropriateness delegations. they are allowed to delegate certain types of changes to buildings in historic districts to staff. to date, i think there is general consensus that it has worked pretty well. a revised delegation process will be at the hearing in november. the planning staff summarized sections of articles 10 and 11 which were amended at the board of supervisors when i got to the board in may. i believe the red line version will be in your packet today and you can see the changes that were made as well. that concludes the report from

the reservation -- the preservation commission. >> i'm here from department staff to give you your weekly report on the board of supervisors as they pertain to planning and land use. the chinese hospital, the project would demolish the existing hospital and rebuild it as a 110 ft. facility. the commission recommended approval on july 12 and the committee recommended approval of the ordinances. on tuesday, the full board of supervisors, the first plan was the appeal for the cpr see. the department submitted additional materials on monday of this week in response to a number of questions asked at the july 17 hearing.

he moved to continue the hearing until november 20 as. they noted that they had agreed to work with the city and an outside mediator on the development plan. supervisor campos wanted a quick selection of the mediator and the item was continued until november 20. for many items that the board this week. there were many items because it is their last week before the break. the board approved final reading, the northeast legislation, but this commission called the mega legislation. these first three pieces did largely accommodate your recommendations. supervisor weaner has a building code amendment that would allow smaller size efficiency in its than the current controls allow.

the commission heard this as an informational hearing on june 28 and supervisor in wiener requested this be continued to allow for more discussions. next was the mills act amendment which would ease implementations of contracts to reduce property tax on historic buildings in exchange for rehabilitation. he did incorporate the changes of this commission and the historic preservation commission and the item was approved on first reading. next was the ordinance that would create new named never had a commercial districts in the sunset area. that was heard on june 14 and recommended the approval of modifications. the supervisor inc. the majority of the changes and this week, the full board approved it on final reading.