before we get start ifed i can remind everyone to silence phones. 1126c for 741 valencia. this is an informational hearing. * >> good afternoon, erica jackson, planning department staff. before you is the informational presentation on a restaurant on valencia street, per conditions of approval requiring informational hearing six months after the first day of business operations. april 28th, 2011 planning commission approved conditional use authorization to convert the vacant ground floor commercial unit of existing two-storey restaurant to a new full-service restaurant

and bar with an outdoor area. in 1987 tacolicio us opened. in speaking to neighbors, conditions exist. first, noise. the neighbors indicate there is excessive noise from patrons, cleaning crew, rooftop equipment and after-hours construction noise. second is hours of operations, complaints indicate the areas remaining open past the permitted hours of operation. 10:00 weekdays and midnight weekends. the neighbors indication the cleaning crew sometimes remains in the area even after the establishment is closed. third is light pollution. complaints indicate flood lights are shining directly into the adjacent residential units. fourth has to do with garbage stored in the interior exit staircase for

residential units and patrons in the outdoor activity area. these are monitored by several different city departments. all the city departments have conducted site visits to the restaurant. the police department's had several complaints filed with them for a variety of issues related to noise of patrons and employees usually after the hours of midnight. the police department has investigated these complaints but has no ongoing issues with the tenant. the planning department has conducted visits based on noise and hours of operation. on those we found no violation on these conditions of approval. staff noticed though outdoor activity was open windows were open onto activity area, that may be contributing to some of the noise in the outside area. the department of public health received one complaint in late june. it was regarding patron noise. the department of public health only enforces the

san francisco noise ordinance, which applies to fixed equipment noise. however, they did do a site visit and performed measurements on the rooftop and found the equipment is in compliance with san francisco noise ordinance. charles salter did another study dated september 7th, 2012 as followup. also part of the condition of approval. they measured the fixed noise sources and found that the noise sources were in compliance with san francisco noise ordinance. as this is an informational presentation there is no required commission action. staff is asking planning commission for direction on how to proceed with the next steps. this concludes my presentation. i'm available to answer questions. >> commissioners, as staff has asked you for how to proceed, i need to remind you this is not on your calendar for action. you can verbally state what you'd like staff to do but you may not as a commission

take an action and direct staff to do that. >> thank you. project sponsor. >> overhead, please. thank you. commissioners, good afternoon. phillip lesser, merchants association and representing tacolicious. so you can physically see the building, i believe most of the people who will be speaking with complaints live on the second floor and tacolicious is on the ground floor. i'm not going to reiterate what erica jackson pointed out, that complaints have been filed have all been found to be without merit. what i would like to point out is that 575 notices

were mailed as a result of 300 foot radius mail-out to all owners, all occupants from this side. you can see it is pretty empty. you can hear from erica jackson very few letters have come in complaining about this. there is a three foot but four foot notice in the window of tacolicious. it's been there 21 days. thousands have walked by that notice. you can see they are not in the gallery. the building now is part of the transformation that's taking place on valencia street but specifically this street, the 700 block of valencia. within the last three years, seven restaurants have opened up on the 700

block of valencia. pizza, cheese, craftsman and miller, grub, 780 valencia and tacolicious. two more will open within the next month. the chapel on second line at 777 have valencia. speaking of that the new orleans preservation jazz band will be playing at 777 valencia on thursday and friday evening. saturday and sunday evening abbot costello will be play thering. the pictures i showed you before, that was three years ago. this is a very changed street from where the people who were going to speak lived in three years ago. part of what is happening is a transitional problem. people that were living in a very dead block of the mission where we have the pizza place, that was asphalt lot. used to be a used car lot.

we have mission cheese, 736, that was empty since 1906. have -- valencia hotel fell off the footings. that was part of the lot. if you hear noise, a lot can be coming from the street. you may recall we did street paving, a brand-new sidewalk. the narrow one is not the same sidewalk. we worked with dpw to widen the assault and -- sidewalk to have a pedestrian experience. we have a lot more traversing the streets and bike lanes. one of the most traveled bike routes in san francisco. so we have lots of activity going out there. i would submit the people we have upstairs are not just because of tacolicious, because it is

in compliance. if you'd like to hear from the expert on acoustical engineering, we have christina from charleston salter and associates. she's done a comparative study. showing they are under 45 decibels. in the late night period, from 10:00 to 7 a.m. they are under 55 the rest of the day. the major complaint of the noise, again, it is not emanating from tacolicious. as far as being good neighbors, you couldn't ask for better neighbors than these people. they have worked with entire neighborhood. engaged as liaison. you will hear from the opposition and management team, joe hargrave and his partner, telmo feria. they have worked with everybody. anything that's come up they have worked with them.

that is the bulk of information i wanted to impart with you this afternoon, thank you very much. i'm available for questions later on if you have any. >> we will go to public comment, pulling a couple cards. martin vargas. richard kirtopoto. raquel fox. whoever is ready. >> good afternoon, ra quel fox, i'm an attorney and here on behalf of residents on valencia street. while there is opposition to the project it is not as though the tenants want to

close down tacolicious. my understanding from the owner is he invested a lot of money. the problem is the owner and crew came to a neighborhood where people live. this is an area where the people that are seated here have been impacted with noise. now, i don't know what time planning -- or the agencies have come oun. you will here from them at 4 a.m. they are woken. you will hear they have to sleep with ear plugs because it is so noisy. we are not talking about just friday and saturday. this is not as if they can rest but every single day. their hours of operation, 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. that is 14 hours. in reality, there's people there before 10 a.m. i was out there this morning at 8:15. there were people out there

already within this establishment. i think in reality it is a nightclub special. they have specials of two shots of tequila, beer and taco for $10. so you have people there to drink and party. these people live there. as far as the thousand that may have walked by and seen a sign, who cares. if you are just walking by and coming from a bar or in the neighborhood to eat or to drink, it is not the same as living there. you will hear from them directly. i don't live there, but the storis are consist it isn't. as far as the police department i tried to talk to them as well. their view is there are more important and more serious, heinous activities in mission district than noise. so okay, you are bothered by the noise, so find ear

plugs, i think is their view on this. what the tenants and i think the residents would like is reduction in noise and reduction in noise where the outside seating is. they want to coexist but be able to have their sanity. i'm almost done. instead of being open to midnight sunday through thursday, having it close at 10 p.m. so they can get up and go to work. you will hear from one of them who is an engineer that he almost crashed because he couldn't have -- six months cumulative effect of not being able to sleep. thank you. >> call a couple names if you are ready, or this particular order ms. fox had. >> hello, ladies and gentlemen of the commission. i would like to be shown if i can connect to your computer here. i have accumulated videos of what's been going on there. i would like to show it on

the screen so you are able to see it. >> great. staff, are you able to help him there? if there is another speaker what wants to go while they are setting that up, ye will be able to save a little time. okay, thank you. >> i have been living there a couple years already. this place is really nice, quiet place to live. but in few days coming here, that -- they make the noise right there. i quit having sleep every night. actually they are just making -- actually fans are making noise but machines midnight through the morning. sometimes sleeping we wake up. so every night have to wear the ear buds. if you wear the ear buds every night -- you know.

i really want them to turn off the machine at night to let us sleep. thank you. >> thank you. >> my name is richard. i live behind tacolicious. the house is my property. my concern is noise from music. not all the time but not all times. last tuesday the music was on all night, i had to go to work early but the music going on. it was shut off right after midnight so i was able to sleep. other is noise -- they fixed the noise from blower. it was waking me a lot of time at night. but in july, june they changed their motor and runs quieter, but heating and air conditioning

system, start running between 11:00 to 12:00 and runs all night. that makes lot of noise. sometimes i can hear it from my room. i have gavel window and sheet rock. before they fix the blower it was worse. sometime i couldn't sleep all night. they fix the blower but now once in a while this air conditioning system is right next to my real property line. so the noises come from there. sometime they turn the blower off, which is better. sometime the staff forgot to turn the blower off. the thing is they can make the noise -- less noise or shut it off at night would be better so we can rest better. thank you. >> thank you. i don't know how to use

your computer so i will probably have to put my cell phone under here and show it on the screen. i have been a resident at 739 valencia for six years. the past two and a half years have been -- you could say traumatic. noise levels, disruptions, yelling, drunkenness, smoking, loud music, i have it all on video. i have over 100 videos collected. all of them i have to basically break them down within seconds. i only have two minutes to do this presentation. i agree with the attorney on our behalf as far as reducing their hours thursday -- sunday through thursday from 11 a.m. to 10:00 at night. then fridays and saturdays from 11:00 to 12:00. the eating between the two buildings, which is where

all that noise is bouncing, were supposed to get insulation and all types of things in order to hold back the noise. but they have windows. the second they open them, we are talking an alley that is eight feet long before it bounces across the wall and brings everything there back in. if i can just show you on this. this is just eight seconds -- i have a mac so

i don't know how to operator hewlett-packard. i want to show you one or two videos prior to them ending. this is one. prior to aiming to the window, this is by my bedroom. when they turn that on my studio is here. it is like i have a disco in my studio. when my windows are open it is like i have 300 people inside my room. this is seven days a week.

i plead that you intercede for us. most of us here are handicapped and disabled. these are inhumane conditions. we are paying rent and we can't even have peace in our own place. >> can you staid -- stated your name for the record? >> randolf martin vargas. we have even been called squatters. >> thank you. next speaker, please. good afternoon, commissioners. my name is -- i live in 739 valencia street for 19 years. i'm a person disabled, suffer from sciatic migraines -- sciatic nerves, migraines and asthma. i am a heavily medicated for all what i have. we have been trying to work a deal from the beginning but they don't want to reach agreement with us. when we mention some

violation of tacolicious, loud music, shouting and drunk patrons. not controlled by the manager. the bad sound barrier insulation between restaurant and second floor apartments, also in walls and windows for noise produced by this restaurant is not containment. the kitchen, chemical smells from janitors and -- and chemicals used by janitors. repairs, painting and remodeling to beautify the bars and restaurants are done during the night without any regard for manager and owner of the tacolicious that their workers wake us with loud noises, ladders, hammers, electric saws, loud voices at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. and smell of strong painting. we