alternative, people will need cars and a place to park them. the residents of this building will be no different. a smaller building with fewer units and parking spaces encouraging car shares would mitigate this problem. one wonders why a building that presents so many problems has gone so far in the permitting process, architecture should build, not destroy the fabric of this historic community. this is an opportunity to have something special on this very prominent corner, something that serves the housing needs of san francisco and is a good fit for this community, so fixer it seems that the community inputs have been ignored, you have been ignored and the plan changes made have only been for code or economic reasons. we respectfully request that you honor the objections of over 400 of us and hope that you see the solid basis of our

appeal and oppose this dr. we trust that wisdom, experience and common sense will prevail. >> thank you. are there speakers in favor of the dr? >> yeah. >> okay, i thought so. so, i've got some cards here but i'm going to let you come up, so long as you're speaking in favor of the dr and if you would like the line up since there are several of you, we'll go ahead and go through, first speaker if you're ready. >> hello, commissioners, i'm stephanie weizmann, i'm the founder and artistic director of the marsh, a breeding ground for new performance, the marsh move to 968 valencia street in 1990, at that time, it was not the hip popular area it is now.

it was down trauden, the marsh was instrumental in the development of our wildly popular neighborhood, a front culturing neighborhood, our hit shows brought customer tos the local restaurants and businesses, before us, many of our attendees were much more uncomfortable to venture into the valencia quarter, in 1996, we purchased our building at 1062 valencia which is right next to the proposed development, we present 400 diverse performances on our two stages, provide daily after school and summer programs for youth regardless of their financial ability to pay. we are affordable. over the past 22 years in the valencia quarter, we have have been able to present at the rate we do to our community because of our hardworking approach and staff and the

incredible quality of our performances, we are lean and effective, we pay our artists a living wage. i am not joking, if this proposed construction and building affects us adversely, it could put us out of business. we have no money to alleviate the problems caused by the construction and the building. what happens if we cannot continue? where does this cultural institution go? where do the youth go? would you prefer to end up with another set of condos, with another arts organization down the drain? i and the marsh community of artists and supporters ask the planning commission, beg the planning commission to preserve this community jewel and to

require the developer to do what we ask, the document you have in hand, as a condition of the proposed project to go forward. support us in keeping our community cultural institutions alive. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi, i'm margaret gomez and i'm speaking for the dr and against this proposed project on 1050 valencia, thank you for your time. i'm a neighbor, i live 6 blocks away from where this project would happen. i live 6 blocks away pr the marsh. i am also someone who loves valencia street, the neighborhood, and what makes me

so passionate about it is the culture, the vitality of the neighborhood and a lot of that is from the marsh, and as was mentioned, the marsh also contributes a lot to the economy of the neighborhood and to smaoul businesses, they go to a cafe, they go to a restaurant, and i'm also someone who's been -- whose life has been impacted and changed by working at the marsh. i believe this project at 1050 valencia street would crush the marsh. i think it would be really hard for the marsh to survive the impact, the negative impact from the noise bleed and the lack of parking it would create and the bad vibe but that's kind of cosmic, i started performing as a [inaudible]

performer, i've been doing this since the 80s and the first time i did a solo show was at the marsh in 1991 and the show was called memory tricks and it was a show about my mother who was a latino show girl and developed alzheimer's, the show -- it was the first time i tried this kind of performance and it developed this audience and it ran for several months at the marsh and after that, i was able to perform in new york off broadway and tour the show in europe at the edinburgh fringe festival, the show was an intimate piece, it was a show that i couldn't do if this project went forward, no one could really do shows like this. a lot of the shows at the marsh are intimate, personal, i couldn't be talking about a woman with alzheimer's if you

could hear jay z blasting from a party off the roof deck. kids are developing their artistic selves at the marsh, that wouldn't be happening with the construction going on, the noise and the toxicity from construction. i really hope that you will consider saving the marsh, saving the culture that comes from there. it would mean so much to san francisco, it means so much to art. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, my name is charlie veron, i'm an artist and residence at the marsh, i worked at the marsh for 21 years, i've taught at the marsh, performed at the marsh, directed at the marsh and have worked as the extra pair of eyes and ears on other shows at the marsh. the marsh has been my artistic

home, the marsh has been the foundation of my career. if you count up all the audience members who have attended my shows over the 20 years, the shows i have performed and directed and helped with, we're talking about 100 thousand audience members. this makes the marsh, and then you look at other shows, bryan copeland show, not a genuine black man, don read shows, we're talking about huge, huge numbers of people, the marsh is a cultural center, it is also an economic hub of the mission district, it is part of what is making the mission district economically successful. so, i think it behooves us when a big project wants to come next door to something that's working to ask, would what's working continue to work or would it be adversely affected? that's what's before you or

part of what's before you this evening. and i think it's very little to ask a developer to show how his project is going to not only not impact what's working but how it's going to enhance what's already working in the neighborhood, so i say some of the burden of proof has to be on the developer, not just on those of us who are concerned about what this development would do. thank you. >> hi, my name is josh cornblooth and i performed many times at the marsh and the marsh has been crucial for me to having a full time career as a performer, i also used to live around the corner from there when there was a horrible kfc on the corner that was being discussed right now, this

is my first experience of a planning commission meeting and i've been impressed with the decisions you have had to made with considerations of economy and zoning and just what different concerns that people have, so i certainly of course respect the desire for someone to build a building for people who have a lot more money than i do to live there on that corner. they deserve to live there. i'd like to just reinforce what the previous -- my friends previously have just said, the marsh is a very, very special place, and when you speak of such things as even of just silence, the ability for them to perform, it sounds like maybe it's an extreme thing to want total silence when you're performing but it's an essential part of what happens there, of the magic that happens at the marsh.

i would encourage you to try to do whatever it is that you can to -- as charlie just said before me, to make sure that whatever happens in that corner doesn't just not kill the marsh but in fact works with it and helps it because it's a treasure, it's a national treasure and it's a great part of san francisco organization that i sure hope continues to exist. thank you. >> my name's linda and i work with the marsh but i've been involved with the marsh as a board member, i was involved when they bought the building many years ago and i think what we're looking at, this process has gone on and on, we have been part of the neighborhood association but we also have sort of been waiting to see how

things were playing out because this has gone on for so long that to keep jumping in and trying to decide what we need in order to have this project work for us has been very difficult. i think at this point, where the project is, we're just very, lxvery concerned that if they are moving ahead that there be some conditions that get put in writing around the developer working directly with the marsh to help us mitigate the issues that are going to arise during construction and also during the time that people move in because of the outdoor space and the proximity to the building, we are a non-profit agency, we are small, we don't really have the financial wear with all to mitigate for the kind of impacts that might be coming so i hope you'll consider that when you look at the project and possibly consider some conditions that would help us address that. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. my name is peter honaka and i live near the proposed development, i appreciate you taking the time of hearing the area merchants, some of who are indicated on this map who oppose this project and the concerns of the 400 people who expressed opposition to the project. of course, this hearing should not be necessary, in september, 2010, the planning commission clearly requested that the developer work with the neighbors on this project. commissioners antonini, moore and sugaya expressed particular concerns about this project. unfortunately, the developer has never tried to compromise with the neighbors, the couple of times he's been willing to meet with us, he has listened to our comments and gone ahead and filed his plans unchanged. the only significant changes he made which affixed code

violations from the planning department, that is not sufficient, this project must also comply with the eastern neighbors plan and it doesn't, here are some examples. policy 123 say that is in general where residential development is permitted, the building height and bulk guidelines and bedroom mixed requirements should be adjusted. this fits at the missionary plan and the budget low residential area, it's bulk in area so it should be compatible with that area. policy 152, regarding noise, the proposed party depth, invite large parties will disrupt the marsh theatre and also the neighbors, it should be eliminated. valencia corridor policy, this

is perhaps the most important poll osier at 32 feet wide and one block long, hill street is the small valencia corridor street, 85 feet of this project is along hill street, the developer wants to give a hill street address yet the hiekt, bulk and density of this project are inconsistent with and incompatible with the two and three storey residences on hill street. policy 314, even at three storeys tall, this building would be taller than its neighbors on valencia street and of course hill street, as most of the buildings are historically significant, they will not be changing, a building will be permanently out of place, there may be taller buildings two blocks away but that is not relevant, this is a five storey build hating will tower. policy 316, this building fails to respect the hiekt, mass or

design of the many exemplary historic buildings around it and finally there is an entire chapter in the missionary plan about historic preservation, this building is -- this project is surrounded by historic building all of which have been built ot the same time and coordinated with each other, it should enhance the community character. thank you. >> thank you. >> may i be the first to wish you a good evening, commissioners, my name is leonard fisher, i've lived on hill street for over 30 yearsfinger i like the neighborhood when i moved in, i like the neighborhood now. we have a wonderful mix of singles, of families, of young and old, we have quiet residential streets in the unique and dynamic commercial corridor on valencia street. i'd like to see an appropriate mixed use development on this corner, it's a corner that

should connect the residential and commercial aspects of this historic neighborhood and it should have some prominence in its own right, what i don't like is a building that's too tall, too dense and inconsistent with the community, even at three storeys, the project would be taller than its surroundings and with a bit of architectural imagination can certainly be a prominent structure. one only has to look a half a block away at the corners of 22nd and valencia to see prominent corner buildings of two storeys or less, the social security building for example or the restaurant. the sponsor says this is the building we want to build. well, i don't want it and it's not just me, over 400 neighbors and merchants have signed petitions to date. as they say on tv, wait, there's more, besides being unacceptable to the community, the proposed project does not

comply with half of the city's planning code policies, priority number two directs preservation of neighborhood character, it is all too clear that the size, the density, the noise and the other negative impacts of this proposed project are inconsistent with the surrounding community. priority number 3 promotes affordable housing yet we've heard the project sponsor say recently they're looking at making these units condos, not rental units, priority 4 directs the traffic not overburden our streets or our neighborhood parking, the eir notes that the proposed project will require over 30 parking spaces which is about equal to what we have on hill street now, so it's also very clear that the project will indeed overburden our streets in parking. priority 5 addresses historic preservation, the proposed project is located at the fragile edge of the liberty

hill historic district, it is surrounded by historic buildings and its presence will reduce our historical prominence by looming over it like a sore thumb, ceqa is a lower standard than the historical preservation requirements of this city, so this proposed project is unaccept to believe the community as configured and is out of line with city planning authorities, it has been incredibly frustrating that the sponsors have turned a deaf ear to our community. i ask that you not do the same. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners, my name is audrey bower and i'm a resident of hill street, 1050 valencia along with 400 plus of my neighbors who have written petitions, as you will see,

there is strong neighborhood consensus that the project is not right for our community and the developer has failed to work in good faith with the neighbors of the issues we have surfaced over the last three years, it will have a material negative impact through hiekt, density, design, noise and parking. the developer has designed 1050 valencia focusing on its compatibility with the commercial aspects of valencia street, ignoring hill street entirely, the majority of the building's frontage and impact, 85 feet is at hillside and sits at a pristinely reserved district, it is not a commercial corridor, it is not an urban street, it is a quiet suburban street that will feel the impact, 1050 valencia is not a site that exists in isolation, the developer proposes to change the residential address to 1 hill

street address. according to those guidelines, the development should maintain our neighborhood identity, it should preserve our historic resources, it should be of a scale that's consistent with the neighborhood and not two storeys higher. the residential guidelines dictate expressed guidelines in developing parcels and there's no reason why this site should be exempt from this plan, i ask that you request our request for discretionary review and require the developer to submit a plan that better addresses its 85 feet and is compatible with our neighborhood. thank you. >> hello, commissioners. >> good afternoon. >> my name is nancy and i own a latin imports retail store located at 1051 valencia across the street from the proposed

project. my business has been dedicated to preserving mexican tradition for 16 years and i live four blocks away from my store. i am here to express my opposition to this development as i feel the current model for this project does not fit in with the character of valencia street on this block. this project might fit in just fine in soma or another area of san francisco, but this particular block is an architecturally historical preearthquake san francisco, so it's very important that future fill-in developments along this corridor honor this uniqueness, the slice of classic san francisco, and your vote on this project today has broader implications about the effects and how we can retain the character and embrace change.

development is inevitable. i am a realist and this attitude that allowed my business to survive the .com boom and then the economic recession and i'm glad that my business is a part of the current sustainable health of valencia street. i feel it is important also to introduce one's self into the neighborhood, being welcomed by your residents, neighbors and merchants, there is a social responsibility to this area beyond what is required by code. lending architecture that bridges old and new is possible if the will is there and i look forward to collaborating with the developers to come up with a plan that everybody can be happy with. thank you for your consideration. >> next speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners, my name's alan harks, i'm a business owner on valencia

street, it is located at 1055 valencia at the foot of hill street across from the proposed condo development under discussion. aquair yus has been a business in the city since 1970 which is the year after i was born so i'm not one of the original owners but i have lived and worked in the mission for over 21 years, obviously over these year, we've seen many changes in the neighborhood, for example, my shop moving there, also when that happened, there was the kfc that was located across the street which i personally enjoyed but that changed and now it's another restaurant and now there will be some kind of condominium development, we'll see what happens, the mission has obviously struggled throughout these years and i think so far,

there's a balance that's been struck between the old and the new, the new boutiques and older ma and pop stores, the new restaurants and family run diners and so forth and i think that's because most of the people who have moved to the mission to live, opened businesses have appreciated what's special about the mission and have contributed positively to the culture here, because these new folks do appreciate what's already there and they make an effort to make their presence not to be odd and change things, what they value about valencia street, i agree that growth is good, it's necessary but not when it disregards the character of a neighborhood and the very things that make the area appealing to those that come and shop and spend money there. and that's what i'm concerned

with here, a five storey modern condo that towers over smaller storey buildings whether designated or eligible on our street i don't think is making an effort to fit in, in size or style or other aspects and i feel if i had seen more engagement with the community from the developers and/or efforts to compromise with the neighbors with some sort of smaller scale proposal with the development, i would be more happy with it. it's important that the area retain its appeal that pedestrians would want to wander around and window shop, and that sun isn't blocked out with a gigantic building, many for your time.

>> hello, my name is susan warren, i've been living on valencia street for 17 years, building a building at this site would be like building a brick wall, it would be like an obstruction, it would be abnormal for this area. i'm a part-time teacher and what i tell my kids, if it doesn't look right, if it doesn't fit, you need to go back and find something that fit and is this building doesn't fit and i think we need to go back and look at it again and find something that fits better here. i have another question or another topic i want to just touch on real quick about the affordable housing. i think you all got a copy of this. i'm not sure, but i have some copies here, and on the overhead, these are the new projects for the eastern

neighborhood development and -- is that upside down? and on each one of these, none of them contain any affordable housing and i know in this eastern development in the general plan, it's supposed to contain affordable housing and none of these along valencia corridor contain any affordable housing so i'm curious when and where the affordable housing is going to go and i noticed 1050 doesn't include affordable housing, although they said it's going include two affordable housing units. i haven't heard that in any plans, i just heard that today, but i'm wondering why about 8 of these construction and developments, that none of them have affordable housing so that's a concern because you're going to use all this space up for market value and condos, where are we going to put this affordable housing because i know space is limited for new

lots and new buildings, so that's a big concern, and also i wanted to talk about parking because all of these housing developments include parking spaces and 1050 doesn't and parking is a big problem in this neighborhood, so i hope that you reconsider this and take a look at everything. thank you very much. >> hello, my name is avi air lick, and as a business owner, resident and homeowner at 1060 valencia street, i have some concerns with these plans as presented. one of my bigger concerns is about just the sheer height of this building, it will block out all of the sunlight in my own home resulting in