pride and a team that has great pride in the fabric of this neighborhood. this is the missing teeth on hayes street. the 450 building would be a great design. as the developers have worked with three different architects which is a lot more work and offers a lot more to the community which is one and to another and handle architects to this one. it is a great addition, not just to the neighborhood, but to the city and completing the retail space. i urge you to approve the project today. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is adam lynch. i'm the owner of a business near the project. i'm in support of the project. i a

business owner and prefer a new vibrant housing business property rather than an empty parking lot. it's clear the project has been well thought out and well designed and addresses all the concerns of the plan. i like the below the market rate units are on-site rather than across the city. we are excited to have this project get under way and urge you to approve it. thank you. >> my name is brian oh nan. i am so ashamed of my city is so evident sitting here listening to what is going on in this planning commission and what these people are saying. there

hasn't been but one concern about affordable housing. i used to live in hayes valley when i worked at macy's when it was an affordable and a beautiful neighborhood. but now, it's gentrified. it's not

a gay issue. there are many homeless people who are gay. there are people on support -- our friends. this is also a racial issue. there is so much emphasis now by our mayor of chinese ancestry to deal with the immigrant pathway to citizenship and yet if you go to the shelters, if you go to the jails and you look at the statistics, there is a real strong stream of racism in the city against african american

people. so, my concern is that this project is just going to further gentrify this area. >> thank you. anymore public comment. >> public comment is closed. >> commissioner antonini? >> think this is a great project. >> about the racial issue. >> you are out of order.

>> anyway, my only concerns although i have heard a lot of enthusiasm for the architecture and have heard from architectural firm but some things i question. the bays, looks like some of them are not full bays, there are quarter bays and half bays, i don't understand why we can't put full basin because when you look at the whole street, to the west of this site, the bays are complete bays and they are also symmetrical and it adds more like to the building and more square footage to the units there and allowed to be on the streets as far as i know. there is no restriction on the size of the bay. i don't really know why we have these partial bays. >> sure, i can explain that further. we investigated the

full bays initially and what drove us to the design that we have currently is we started looking at especially on hayes street reoriented towards patricia green and the park, those bays exist in living spaces and bedroom spaces and by shifting the view, we thought it would be more interesting for the occupants to look slightly down the street. >> i guess you are in sort of a trapezoidal shape of the property. so that makes it more difficult. but just adjoining hayes street which is person pendicular to your building. it seem like i would prefer a larger bay. only one side would

look at patricia's green. that's one comment. i appreciate your answer to that. the other thing i wanted to bring up and just my own personal taste. i look the use of the wood or whatever this material is going to be to try to soften the impact. i would like to see it a little bit more present particularly between the floors because you have the vertical elements, but you don't have any horizontal elements. so it doesn't really break it into the traditional floors between the buildings. there is no cornice that i can speak of it. modest and almost every part of hayes street has a very strong cornice. you can use whatever material you want. it would make the building have more presence and more stronger and made more of a statement to the end of the building. the other thing is traditional with

the context of all the places on hayes street is symmetry. putting an asymmetrical building in there sort of the eye gets called to it and what's wrong with that building, it doesn't balance with everything else. then the foelg, you can do many things with all kinds of things but it's hard to sit on. if it's going to be used, it has to be habitable. a lawn that is neat and clean that people can use is nice there, not just to look at. there is a white box on top of the building. it's just sort of, your eye gets called to it. i don't know if there is any

way to mask that with some of the elements that you have with the lower floor. >> architect. that mechanical box is the elevator overrun. it's actually setback quite a bit. the elevation that you see is a flat elevation taking probably 20 feet up the air across the building. from the street level you will never see that box but we will consider doing something different with it, if that's necessary. from a standpoint it's not going to be present on the street. >> yeah, i realize it from the street level, you won't but people from other buildings on a higher level see it. and let's see what else i came up with. the other thing is on the

windows which i think is very gracious on the floor. if you look again at the more traditional buildings where flipers is, they have good windows but they have support around the windows to break it up. you have some dark elements here but if you can make it larger particularly the lines that come across the window to give it a little bit more character and richness than just having the glass. these are just my taste. i think some of these things would help a lot. i think it's a great project. it's just my taste in design. >> commissioner sugaya? >> yeah, with respect to 23 ivy, is the exiting i'm trying to understand exactly, the

building that we are talking about at 323 is setback from i ivy street. the way it's angled, the building is already cutoff a little bit on the west elevation. because of the property line. >> i can maybe get the overhead. so the triangular area in question shows the red dash is an artifact of the alignment of the freeway and consequently a

parcel. it does sort of protrude that would look like a pedestrian access. that is a vehicle and pedestrian access easement. it would be maintained accrue is that area. the project sponsor in response to concerns, were held back. previously they would have swung into this area and potentially dinged a car if it was parked there. they were pulled back so they don't swing in the easement any longer. >> that's what i understood, the red triangular area they are a structure and below it, too. whatever. at least above it. so and then do we have a

concern about or the developers concern, i assume. that's going to be open, isn't that right? there is no illustrated gates there at this point. i'm hoping that with increased vibrancy in the neighborhood and increased use in the alley that that little space won't end up being -- >> you are talking about the alcove in the egress stores. >> yeah. that it doesn't become a nuisance for people. >> it's definitely our concern and the goal is to activate the alley and we'll to have light that area and think how to properly design to make sure

it's not a nuisance. >> okay. thank you. >> commissioner moore? i think the project is an interesting design. it's more variety. i couldn't be more pleased to see the affordable units on site. i know that was an issue a few week ago of getting the update a week or so ago that this has been resolved. it looks very comfortable to me. it's much thought about parking ratios, all things that i consider positive. i do take issue that this is not an architectural design review committee, this commission cannot and be judging on architectural design, i think we should refrain ourselves from trying to be too detailed oefrnd

oriented with the details. >> i have no pro be with the architecture. i really appreciate the packet is complete. i do think that these are going to be very beautiful units. they are going to -- not going to be very expensive. with all the construction happening in the city right now, the viability of all these older and small businesses is important. ask the contractor to be sure to keep clear pedestrian pathways and have signage and do whatever we can to help some of these long businesses intact through

construction. >> i will make a motion to approve with conditions. >> second. >> on that motion to approve with conditions, commissioner antonini, aye, borden aye, moore, aye, fong, wu. that motion passes unanimously 6-0. zoning administrator what say you? >> if anybody would like a copy of the letter, please ask staff. thank you. >> commissioners if there is nothing further on this item we can move on to item 15. case number 20130266 c. 2224 union street. >> good afternoon. the project

before you request authorization to establish a new formula retail use. the subject property is located on the ground floor of the mixed use building. the department is recommending approval of this project. the site is currently occupied by another retail use that houses an, antique collective. the proposed changes will not result in the expansion beyond the space. the retailer specialize in cook ware products and approximately 100 locations nationwide. the department finds the proposed use and find it in the over all

ncd and there is not another cook ware store in the area. compatible with the neighborhood and modifications are very minimal. based on the sponsors information there are currently 13 vacancies with the the ncd which none are comparable to the size. one letter of opposition and one phone call and six letters of support. i have a copy of those additional comments here. this concludes my presentation. i'm happy to answer any questions. thank you. >> project sponsor, please. good afternoon, president fong and members of the planning commission. my name is bonnie,

a director at sur l.a. tables . i'm joined by my architect and district manager for northern california cal who will be over seeing this particular location who also happens to live on russian hill and is within walking distance of this location. if you aren't familiar with sur l.a. table we offer a wide variety of cook ware. we offer a robust offering of process from the everyday to hard to find and even the unexpected. more often

than not, those that come to our store looking for a product that they can't find elsewhere. our staff is informed and dedicated and will pass along a great recipe. we look forward to hiring up to 30 new team members in a variety of full and part-time positions. sur l.a. table will also offer management roles. in terms of architectural elements of this project, the exterior facade will not be changed. it will simply receive a fresh coat of paint. new awnings will replace those existing. it was important for us to keep the flavor of the existing facade and not make any changes to the

personality of the building. in a retail area, a new shelf will be created for delay. we'll present cooking classes with a local shelf. in these classes the residential chef will offer anything from technique to original cuisine. allowing those to be passing by to get a view of the actions. however, the kitchen's ambiance and over all personality will function as a kitchen. it's no way a

full scale restaurant. the exhaust hood will be located on the roof and any noise will be located by the commercial hood. as part of being a consider the neighbor, sur los angeles table will be available to the neighborhood. throughout the duration of construction, sur l.a. table will be able to provide information to neighbors if any concerns arise. as you can imagine this became an area for providing good food and entertaining. sur l.a. table will be able to serve many facets to this community. this will be just a third location in san francisco

and the only one offering cooking clauses. we believe the store will bring quite a draw. in come to this community, we hope to highlight the neighborhoods vibrant scene. during the course of our outreach effort. we are pleased with the amount of local support from the neighbors. our commercial neighbors have expressed strong support to attract positive attention to this community. we have 85 cards and letters to this pro -- project which i present to you today. much like our presence in the ferry building, we hope to attract new customers from both areas and the city as a whole. in closing, we are strongly

committed to being good neighbors and believe our presence will help businesses of our commercial neighbors while providing convenience to our neighbors. thank you for your time and consideration and hope you will support our efforts to bring sur l.a. table to this area and approve our use permit. >> thank you. open up now to public comment. sam black. richard . joe murdock and terry ram ba. >> hello. my name is sam black. i have lived and worked here for over 20 years. i'm here to protest the sur l.a. table. it's not needed on this street.

half of our stores are stocked with merchandise from gourmet. this area is with unique and small businesses. once you let a chain storen, in, part of the heart and soul will go away. first them come in with house wares and jewelry. if a san francisco retail needs to fill a vacancy would have an independent store. not a big box store that will drive a way the locals. i know you don't help a business that helped building the area for a hundred

years. they promised to meet with me with our coexisting with our store being with the proposed location. i'm concerned that this is a beginning of a terrible relationship where big business trumps little business. i believe it will open the flood gates for big box retail. we want this to be main street san francisco. not main street u.s.a. >> next speaker? >> thank you president fong and commissioners, i'm raymond, manager of sur l.a. table for the last eight years. i hope you let us come to the table at union street. we offer a unique shopping experience in our stores. we have cooking demos,

product testing before you buy. we do recommendations for staff and soeshths and associates and customers in our stores. we welcome all to our table from sur l.a. table to cook for the professional chef, homemaker, we are open to all. we welcome everyone and even though we are as one say we are a large company, we feel we are very family oriented, we have a small staff and we have a great working relationship. i hope you let us come into union street and be a member of that family. i welcome you all to our table and we hope you will welcome us. >> thank you. next, speaker, please. >> good afternoon, president

fong, commissioners, my name is john murdock. i'm a shipping receiver at the ferry building. i'm a foodie. obviously everyday all day i love to talk about food and cooking and whether it cooks who work in the ferry billion, -- building, around the city. it's just a wonderful experience working there especially with the proposed building. with the cooking classes. i can't tell you how powerful that is and how much it's going to make a difference. thank you so much. >> good afternoon commissioners, my name is marco williams, i'm a veteran of the

union street commercial district for 29 years. having done a lot of projects on union street and a lot of reports for you. i would like to report that by the way, the union street association asked me to be here on their behalf. i have done a consensus study recently on the relationship of formula retail use to small businesses in close proximity. it seem on union street most of the merchants there, the consensus is that we have an appropriate mix of formula retail use and it works for us and they don't feel like they want to have too many but it has an appropriate mix. this is why the approval of the union street is happening and they went out to express their support or opposition or new opinion and unsdrieded undecided as well.

the vote came in favor of sur l.a. table. i would ask you to approve this project. some businesses have asked you about moving across the street from them and having retail operations with similar products. it would seem business owner would not be afraid of having a formula retail use, they just want it to be compatible with the neighborhood. although we are a respective member of the board, we don't see frederick sons being compromised by this operation. we feel like there is enough room there for everybody. once again the consensus study that i did on formula retail use, made very important points