inspected. i was surprised to see this use as compared to kinkos. the not a kinkos. this is an electrical substation with thousands of servers and has transformer generate or and over a thousand gallons of fuel. for me this is my home. as a homeowner who plans to start a family in my dwelling, an industrial facility with a 400-kilowatt generator to operate in my back beyond yard. thank you for your time. >> my name is michael hrynko. i

live at portrero avenue. we own our home. we have separate loans. we are repeatedly treated by the planning department as if and i have in old from mr. teeg, it went to owners, not occupants. so when mr. silver man says that there were no complaints because no one was paying attention. that's why the posting of the sign is very important. further, i objected to scott sanchez having say, hey, what's going on. what is this about. please do not sign that letter. on a monday. i meet with the neighbors on wednesday, on friday, the letter is signed, you were sent the letter. i was never sent the letter. whereas

i go to the planning department to read the case files. i'm the one who disseminates the information to everyone in the neighborhood. i know what's going on. this is what i found. rca was a cable company. they laid most of the fiber optic for the city of san francisco. the owner spent a million dollars and therefore has land use entitlement under case law. with regards to an internet services exchange, the initial, it goes back further than what mr. max well says it went into code. he said it was into code in 2002, it was provisional up to 2001. it was written into

this code all about the significant of ill effects of the generators which somehow got lost in modern day planning code. it specifically says it was a utility. it was not an internet services change or other permitted device. this is from current planning code. letization of uses in neighborhoods. the very intent is to allow particularly office and housing the benefit to transition, not for a use that never finalized their old permits, not one prior to 2010 was finalized. that place is wired crazy. i previously wrote you a letter about ceqa and here i have this, i don't know if i should put it down or not. it's not compliant. can i

continue? >> briefly. that's your 2 minutes there. >> you did a great job. if you want to leave all that information for us to pass around. >> here is all the toxins that this generated permit. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. we have some other speakers. maybe we'll have questions for you. >> i don't really need much longer after today. mr. sanchez. >> we can't have dialogue. thank you very much. >> chris charles? i'm paul larson with black lotus. i

guess my unique spin on this is i operated an internet exchange on mission street from 94-2008. it called telehub base. in 14 years we never had a single complaint. the applicant was a tenant of mine. i think there are ways to mitigate the sound generate or use. we never used ours except for the test. it's a management issue. i think the mitigations that i have heard in the recommendation for staff will work and appreciate your support. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, president fong, planning commission. my

name is -- i'm the founder which started here back in 1994. as the internet and broadband industry evolved, the data center community and internet exchange communicated became consolidated under the management of real estate investment trust. some of which spun out these operations that are public facilities now. they are different than the facility that is being proposed on portrero avenue. i want to assure the families that there aren't going to be thousands of loaders into this facility because the square footage doesn't allow for that. the generator is for the use of a major power outage in the facility. it's different now than it was in 2003 when the

industry was still growing. but today's technology substantially different #57bd there is a real need for a facility to cater to small sized facilities and basically can be part of these major p and l's that these investments have to cover the investments that they have made in these major facilities. the interest for having the choice for the business operators, i will like to ask the planning commission to authorize the facility. i'm sure the families will find these times different and they won't have those similar experiences. thank you for your time. >> good afternoon, president fong and commissioners. i'm

charles, president of eminent. i'm a native of san francisco for over 18 years. i'm speaking from a small business point of view. i think we all realize how much has changed over the west porter area. the whole design center surrounding all the small business and design company around them, they all need something that is more convenient close to them so they can do services at the current level because nobody can afford down time these days. there is a lot of test environments that are looking for a place for them to be able to start up the server and testing something for the local developers instead of going somewhere even much further. i want to point that out and i think it would be great for all of us to have a small data center. it only like

10,000 square feet. thank you very much. >> thank you. any additional speakers on this item? okay. seeing none public comment is closed commissioner antonini? >> thank you. if i can ask staff some questions in regards to this facility. mr. teeg, now, excuse my ignorance in terms of digital matters. i assume this is a place where data is backed up and stored from computers of the subscribers who use this. is this what it is? >> i think generally speaking if you want to get into more detail the project sponsor would be better to answer that question. >> am i correct about that? >> yes. >> so, yeah, this would seem to be a very pressing need because everything almost everything is

going online and a lot of people are eliminating a lot of their hard copies, not me, but a lot of them are so. they are basically stuck with what's in their computer and if they lose their data, they lose their entire base. these are going to have to be somewhere and my understanding there is only two others in san francisco. so, is that correct, or not? >> i'm not sure if those are the only two, if there are other ones, there are many. >> the other question would be if there is an advantage to being closer to the site of the people who use this facility. those customers? >> my understanding and if you like the sponsor could elaborate, but this facility will market two smaller businesses who will have more of the need to come in and work and customize what they are

doing with their data and assistance there. so the proximity is helpful. i think one or two of the speakers kind of spoke to that as well. but if you want additional information on the real details of how it operates and benefits close to the proximity, i think the project sponsor could elaborate on that. >> i would like more information. if i can ask the project sponsor about the operation itself. >> a point was made in the correspondence that we received that there is a competitiveness of course like in any other business, some of the larger servers, i fe, are probably a lot more expensive for smaller

customers. is that a fact? >> correct. good afternoon, my name is arm on. a native of san francisco for the past 45 years. i have employed over 200 people. my previous company was a data operator where the entire city of san francisco was the data center and was and continues to be in my facility. this is a smaller facility, taylored cost wise taylored to small internet business company in san francisco. it would be more affordable than those of a larger facility. it's a total of 10,000 square feet. it's not thousands of users, it's like hundreds of servers. >> because you had experience with paul. one of the issues

that speakers brought up about the back up diesel system but we have restrictions on how often. how often did you have to use your back up because you must have had service from pg & e too? >> yes. it was a cable for outages due to pole damages which actually transpired a couple of times. this facility has an underground cable and fed by a very close substation that feeds the entire san francisco munis power grid. >> they should have a lot of power. >> this is a good facility from a power reliable perspective. >> thank you, that answers a lot of my questions. and having gone through a facility or a residents that have overhead

wiring and new house for the last thirty 30 years has been under grounds and we've had two out acknowledges in 30 years and not many because you are not susceptible to weather conditions. it seems to me the back up use of the generators would be very limited. maybe the sponsors can say what you are making to make it more environmentally acceptable in the case that it does have to be used even for short periods of time. >> where it's supporting biofuel. we believe to use it and we absolutely will if we can. there was also a vibration issue. we are exploring the possibility of putting the generator on spring isolate oris for the mechanical equipment and specifically for the exhaust the biofuel would

be one way to dramatically reduce the particulate. >> so you think that's quite probable that you can do that instead of diesel which is probably already being used? >> yes. and maintaining the equipment itself with regular maintenance will operate more efficiently. >> and generally with the noise. if there is any from the operation in it's normal usage. >> there appears to be two main sources of noise. that was the mechanical equipment on the roof and we investigated that and inspected it and appeared to be mounted incorrectly and older equipment. we are going

to be replacing that equipment and putting isolate ors on the new equipment on the roof to reduce that vibration. there was also a comment from one of the neighbors, a concern about the transformer. although we don't believe there is a lot of vibration from the transformer. someone said they felt that walking by, we can provide insulation for that as well. for the generate or if that were to be turned on for a period of time, we can reduce that as well for the vibration. i'm hearing you are planning to do those things as part of your operation. i think my approval would be based upon you doing those type of things. >> yes. >> okay, thank you. see what the other commissioners have to say. >> commissioner borden? >> yeah, can you just explain

exactly what your issue is. don't go through the ceqa, i just want to know specifically what your issue is. >> san francisco has a lot of seismic activity and in the event of an earthquake, pg & e will pull this power off and the generator will be on. one problem. two, it must be tested regularly. when it's tested and it's carcinogenic soot into our backyard. people have approved it. you approved a home just a couple weeks ago. the lady who has just moved behind has a baby and pregnant with another. there is an infant who lives on the main floor of my building and one in between. it not compatible use for the neighborhood. it's for m 1

zoning. you can't put this in a residential neighborhood. the noise pollution and neighborhood and everything done there has been a problem up to this point. >> i just want to understand your issues. >> no problem. i just want to be clear. i don't want to get in a back and forth debate. i happen to know a little bit about this. my company is the world largest manufacturer of servers, ibm. most companies have large server rooms that you probably don't realize and there are plenty of places like this because serving moved to the cloud which means you don't have to have your own server.

it seem the issue is related to the noise generate or and i'm trying to figure out from staff how we could, i know a consultant is doing an analysis about the noise. i would just want to make sure that we can codify some of the conditions and also having it tested for smoke. >> it would be subject to the permitting process. they are having the air quality management district permit. if we are looking into the department of public health permit, that would be an annual permit that would allow 50 hours. seems they that restriction. they are subject to the other municipal codes in terms of the noise ordinance and that is enforced by the department of health and we have worked with them about how we can work together in terms

of enforcement. if they receive complaints that this was violating the noise ordinance and they verify it, we could bring this back to this commission for revocation of the conditional use authorization. if they are violating city laws we would have that ability and that's what we are discussions with dph about. in terms of the back up generators, i would argue that it's not entirely inconsistent with the residential neighborhood. i received a residential in san francisco notices about the back up generators going up on a care facility where nearby hospitals. it's not a feature that we see in residential districts. there are other institutions. a police station could have a backup generator in a residential location. just

because you have a backup generator that you should be within 1,000 feet. >> i know. i just want to make sure that with the purpose for the community that maybe we can put something in place. maybe suggest that we ask for not a hearing, but maybe 6 months or year to report back to this commission and maybe they have done an assessment of the noise. i understand the issue is making sure that, enforcement is hard after the fact and that is a concern and maybe we can put that in the motion and we can get a report back from staff on the status of any noise. >> maybe we can address some of the concerns here is that we would have them obtain a permanent application to invoke this authorization and through

that process, this is a legitimate situation. some permits that were stopped, there was never perfectly permitted the first time through and we can work with the department of building in suspension inspection -- in the expired permits receive their final inspection. we can work with the department of building inspection to ensure that those inspections occur. >> can we put that in the motion? >> i don't think we need to separately codify it. i think there is something in there we can put in the building application. >> it would definitely need that to establish that on-site. back to the noise issue, we have something in there that they have to meet the noise level. they are doing that

analysis now and they will be required to demonstrate that they are meeting that through this conditional use authorization already. >> great. because servers themselves are not the problem. the issue is i understand the generator. servers are in this building, that is not the issue. i want to separate out the use and the issue related to the use and the issue related to the power which is second and secondary issue. if we feel like we need the motion, i would move to approve with conditions with related to the noise and sound. >> that would be a memo to the commission. >> a memo to the commission with the outcomes with the generator with all the permitting processes. >> as a condition of approval? >> commissioner sugaya? >> along the lines did we just

say we wanted a report back? i think there is a not a problem. i just want to point out an issue that are we asking that in terms of reports that go to the staff with respect to complaints or is that going to be something where in dph is going to be monitoring this in some fashion. i say that because the public's perception of noise and pollution and vibration are going to be, i think, quite different than what the regulations under dph is going to be so to speak. so if we are looking for something in terms of a report, i would think we would have to have the department of public health involved in someway in terms of complaints going to them, not planning staff or planning

staff would have to refer it to dph. we would have to have some kind of report to them. >> that's an excellent point. what we can do is what i envision here is we would report back in six 6 months with the overall status with the process and to ensure they got the relevant dph etc and what their determination was. >> okay. the second question is the reason that we are able to consider this as a cu is because of your determination that the previous use, not the company, but the use itself is continued and there from, from it's m 1 days and therefore to change the zoning, which wouldn't allow this at this

point, your determination has resulted in the project sponsor to be able to come before us with a conditional use request? >> that is correct. >> in terms of the business itself, i understand that it's aimed at smaller businesses, local businesses, but i still don't understand why it's necessary to have this use close in what is becoming a residential neighborhood. i understand that generators and other things are attached to other uses as commissioner borden pointed out, but why, if i have a business and, to the project sponsor, if i were a business and i engaged you in

terms of setting up, would i set up my server with you? >> the reason the close proximity is of importance is the majority of the staff of internet companies live within the proximity of that location. >> why would they need to have access to your facility? >> a lot of times what happens in this case, computer staff, network engineer they would need to have physical access to install new components. >> they couldn't drive a mile away to paul street to do this same thing. >> absolutely, what happens in san francisco is a lot of people go to san jose. this provides a much smaller and much more affordable location for companies that don't want to drive. for all it's own purposes. i would get a lot of

staff would be able to walk to this facility. this concept of close proximity to the equipment is an important concept. that's why we try to have things in a close proximity. energy is created by being close to it. instead of sending in your car and waiting 3 hours spewing gas, you can take your bike to this facility. it's important to starting an internet company and going back to what commissioner said earlier, there are servers everywhere, there are small generators everywhere. this is just a small facility. >> what percent of start ups, for example, wouldn't maintain their own servers within their own establishments? >> at this point, i would say very few companies maintain their own servers. they look for putting them into the

cloud, right? but what is the cloud, it's buildings such as these. it's not out there somewhere like conventional thinking. >> i understand that, i just don't understand that with the cloud thaw -- that you have to be physically close to everything. >> the cloud is nothing more than a building with a lot of servers. they fail, they need upgrades. >> how many ip companies are within 5 blocks of your establishments. >> within 10 blocks i would say 20-30. this is south of market where this was the no. 1 zip code for this location. >> i think it's in the wrong location and i'm not in favor of it.

>> commissioner moore? >> i want to say we have a liaison as part of the project, right? the second point is i hope the company who is looking for approval today is trying to have a more neighborly policy with the adjoining people. this is an industrial building. i think we use as the facility described is quite appropriate. i think we need to remember, people use the word generator and backup generator interchangeably. this generator is not for daily power supply, but it is a backup as people would do in a residents. people would have this so in a